Police arrested a Pennsylvania father for allegedly burying his 6-year-old daughter in the yard, Greene County District Attorney David Russo announced.
John Kraft allegedly beat his daughter, choking her to the point of unconsciousness, and burying her in the backyard of his Waynesburg home, according to Pittsburgh’s Action 4 News.
“There are numerous allegations that are very severe and barbaric in nature,” Russo, said. “It is alleged that he had brutally beaten a child, that the child was choked to the point of unconsciousness, that the child’s head was slammed off the floor and off the wall, that the child was buried in the backyard as punishment. One allegation even states that the child was thrown in a hole and left in a hole overnight.”
Greene Co. DA Dave Russo tells me it’s one of the worst child abuse cases he’s seen. Police arrested John Kraft of Waynesburg for allegedly abusing his 6y/o daughter who suffered severe bruising. Police say he beat her w/a belt & buried her alive in the yard in a hole. @KDKA pic.twitter.com/MrkDRdVoZj
— Jennifer Borrasso (@JenBorrasso) October 25, 2022
Social workers opened an investigation after they found bruises on the child’s face and body in September, the outlet reported. The girl’s sibling told investigators that Kraft left her in a hole overnight and she came back into the house smelling like sewage. The child also alleged that the father beats her with a belt containing a metal plate and his arm. (RELATED: Washington Woman Escapes Would-Be Grave After Being Stabbed, Bound, Buried Alive By Husband: Police)
Another allegation accused Kraft of digging a hole and covering the child with mud when he believed she was lying, the outlet reported.
Russo said the two children are in a safe and secure place away from Kraft, the outlet reported.
“We don’t tolerate child abuse or allegations of child abuse, so this man will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law,” Russo said.
Kraft has been charged with several counts of aggravated assault, strangulation, simple assault, endangering the welfare of children, reckless endangerment, false imprisonment of a minor and unlawful restraint of a minor, according to KDKA.