By Ken Brown

CINCINNATI (WXIX) – A psychologist who worked with Adam Snyder the night before his death took the stand during the fifth day of his parents’ trial on Thursday.

Dr. Rena Sorenson said Katherine Snyder had taken her 8-year-old son to see Sorensen at the Cincinnati Children’s College Hill Campus.

“When they initially adopted him he was self-eating and feeding well,” Sorensen testified. “After he broke his femur, he started to decline. He wanted them to feed him. Pretty soon they had to puree his food and put it in a bottle. Then he was even refusing that and they had to move to syringe feeding. The last days prior to him coming in, he had hardly eaten at all.”

The defense said Adam Snyder’s health issues could have been a potential cause of his passing.

Garland Malcolm of Pleasant View was sentenced to a maximum term of 32 years in prison for child abuse

By Bailey Duran Special to The Journal

The Colorado Court of Appeals on Oct. 12 upheld the court’s decisions in a dependency and neglect case that was filed on behalf of the Montezuma County Social Services.

In a separate but related case, Garland Malcolm was found guilty of neglect and severe child abuse that resulted in a maximum sentence and severed parental rights for both parents to all four of their children.

On July 14, 2023, Malcolm was sentenced to 32 years in prison after a jury convicted her of severely abusing one of her children to the point that he may never recover, according to the doctors who treated him at the Colorado Springs Children’s Hospital.

by: Aimee Plante

PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) – A trial is underway for the Vancouver parents accused of starving their adopted 15-year-old son to death nearly three years ago.

Court documents show Jesse Franks and Felicia Adams-Franks have faced charges for the death of Karreon Franks since turning themselves in during the spring of 2021.

Karreon died the day after Thanksgiving in 2020 in a Vancouver hospital, where records show he was 5 feet 3 inches tall and weighed 61 pounds. Karreon had been autistic, legally blind and unable to speak.

Officials say Adams-Franks had gone to a casino hours after his death to spend more than four hours gambling. 

Karreon Franks was 61 pounds when he died in November 2020

By Jessica Prokop, Columbian Assistant Metro Editor

“How much hunger can a child endure? How small can a child become before their body stops working?” Senior Deputy Prosecutor Erik Podhora asked a jury Wednesday. “For Karreon Franks, it was 61 pounds.”

Prosecutors say that’s how much a 15-year-old Vancouver boy weighed when he died from starvation and neglect in November 2020 at the hands of his adoptive mother and her husband. Their joint trial began Monday in Clark County Superior Court.

Felicia L. Adams, 54, and Jesse C. Franks, 58, are facing domestic violence charges of homicide by abuse and second-degree murder in Karreon’s death and two counts of second-degree criminal mistreatment of Karreon’s brothers, then 14 and 13 years old.

By Mike Schell

SPRINGFIELD TOWNSHIP, Ohio (WXIX) - A doctor from Children’s Hospital took the stand Wednesday as the trail of John and Katherine Snyder continued Wednesday.

John and Katherine face 26 total charges in connection with the 2016 death of their adoptive son, 8-year-old Adam Snyder, according to the Hamilton County Prosecutor’s Office.

Adam was one of five children with learning disabilities the couple adopted from China, court documents show.

Prosecutors claim Katherine Snyder slammed Adam’s head, which led to his death, after he soiled himself on Oct. 4, 2016.

By Ken Brown

SPRINGFIELD TOWNSHIP, Ohio (WXIX) - The judge overseeing the trial of the Springfield Township couple accused of killing their 8-year-old son issued a stern warning to both sides on Tuesday.

The warning from Judge Wende Cross came after concerns were raised that someone tried to make contact with a child witness who gave testimony in the trial of John and Katherine Snyder on Monday.

“The court has a duty to make sure that these proceedings do not cause trauma to these minor children, and that’s what I’m going to do,” Judge Cross said. “I will have you arrested, plain and simple. You can explain it to me after you get out of the justice center.”

John and Katherine face 26 total charges in connection with the 2016 death of their adoptive son, 8-year-old Adam Snyder, according to the Hamilton County Prosecutor’s Office.

By Ken Brown and Mike Schell

CINCINNATI (WXIX) - A neighbor of John and Katherine Snyder testified she once found their son Adam inside their home with a broken arm.

Lynn Hortemiller, who lived across the street from the Snyders, was a witness for the prosecution during the second day of the trial on Monday in Hamilton County court. The Snyders are accused of murdering their 8-year-old son in 2016 and facing multiple charges including four counts of aggravated murder.

Hortemiller said she was close with the couple until she found Adam Snyder with a broken arm.

The prosecutors are building their case around the repeated discipline the Snyders allegedly imposed on their children. After Adam Snyder’s death, they said their other five children were discovered in their home malnourished and showed signs of physical abuse.

By Mike Schell

John Snyder II and Katherine Snyder, both 51, face 26 total charges: four counts of aggravated murder, four counts of murder, four counts of felonious assault and 14 counts of endangering children.

The charges stem from 8-year-old Adam Snyder’s death in October 2016.

The Snyders purposely caused the blunt-force trauma death of 8-year-old Adam Snyder in October 2016, according to Hamilton County court records.

Adam was one of six children with learning disabilities the couple adopted from China, court documents show.

by Christian Hauser, WKRC

CINCINNATI (WKRC) - The trial for a couple accused of causing the death of one of their children and abusing several others began Friday morning.

Friday was mostly spent on opening statements and the prosecution's first witness.

The prosecution says John and Katherine Snyder are the reason their adopted son died.

Katherine is accused of causing the traumatic head injury which led to the eight-year-old's death. John is accused of failing to feed the child for five weeks between September and October of 2016.

KEVIN GRASHA   Cincinnati Enquirer

An attorney for a woman, who along with her husband are charged in the death of a boy they adopted from China, described them as loving parents who took in children with complex medical issues.

"They opened their hearts and home to children who were not wanted," defense attorney Jeremy Evans said in opening statements Friday in the couple's trial in Hamilton County Common Pleas Court.

Evans pointed out that Katherine and John Snyder weren't indicted on murder and child abuse charges until 2022, six years after the death of their 8-year-old son, Adam.

The couple also are charged with abusing four other children they adopted from China as well as one of their biological children, who was a teenager at the time. The abuse is alleged to have happened between 2014 and 2016.