Robert Buskey Jr., 35, pleaded guilty in January to second-degree murder and criminal sale of a controlled substance to a child, according to a press statement from the Schenectady County District Attorney’s Office, News.Az reports, citing People.
Buskey admitted that “under circumstances evincing a depraved indifference to human life,” he recklessly engaged in conduct that created a grave risk of serious injury or death to his daughter, Charlotte, ultimately causing her 2024 death, per the statement.
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Authorities were called to Buskey’s home on April 14, 2024. Inside, they discovered the girl’s severely emaciated body locked in a bedroom in what they described as a “house of horrors,” the statement reads.
They also found a makeshift cage in the dining room where Buskey kept his 3-year-old son, according to prosecutors.
Prosecutors said Charlotte had been neglected and malnourished for months. She and her brother had been completely isolated from the outside world — no longer seeing family members, attending medical appointments or going to school.
They added that Buskey kept the children confined so he could “do drugs, play video games, and not be bothered by [them],” per the statement.
According to prosecutors, evidence showed that Buskey locked Charlotte in her bedroom, where she had only a small pack-and-play to lie in. She was left without food, water or contact with anyone and ultimately died of severe dehydration and malnutrition, despite food being available elsewhere in the house, per the statement.
Along with his daughter’s murder, Buskey was also convicted of giving drugs to his children. Both tested positive for cocaine.
At his sentencing on April 3, Buskey apologized for his actions and took responsibility, WGRB reported. “I deserve it,” he said in court, per the news outlet. “I understand why I am being prosecuted here. I understand the reasons why everyone looks at me as a monster.”
Buskey’s defense attorney, Joseph Litz, highlighted his client’s struggles with drug addiction and mental health and argued that others could have intervened to prevent Charlotte’s death, WAMC reported.
Judge Matthew Sypniewski disagreed. “This has everything and only to do with only what could be an absolute narcissist, self-absorbed, individual who is so selfish and has no empathy for what was a locked-up 5-year-old starving to death behind that door,” he said, per the outlet. “That’s what it’s about.”
As part of his plea agreement, Buskey was given the maximum sentence allowed by law, gave up his right to appeal and was placed under an order of protection that forbids any contact with his now 5-year-old son, the district attorney’s office said.
Buskey previously competed as an amateur mixed martial arts fighter in local Cage Wars events.
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