The Rose Hill Police Department announced this morning that the remains of the child found in the backyard of a residence on September 11 have been identified as Kennedy Jean Schroer.
Kennedy was born on July 14, 2014, and adopted by Crystina and Joe Schroer in November 2018. She was just six years old when she was presumed to have passed away, which according to preliminary autopsy results, was November 2020.
“She was a beautiful child, with an infectious smile,” the agency wrote in a press release. “While we understand the desire to hold persons accountable, we need to get this correct and not fast. Releasing too much information might appear to implicate a person or persons who were not involved, so in our search for the truth we need to equally work to protect peoples’ rights.”
Kennedy’s remains were taken to the Sedgwick County Forensic Science Center after being found for postmortem examination. Though while the full report and examination hasn’t been released yet, Rose Hill Chief of Police Taylor Parlier disclosed that DNA testing for identification was the center’s top priority.
“Right now, they knew that the biggest thing for the news and media is identification,” said Chief Parlier in an interview with the Times-Gazette. “They got that before they could do the other tasks and passed it onto us as fast as possible.”
The remains are in an advanced state of decomposition, making the cause of death unidentifiable. The center did observe that no visible injuries are apparent to the child. No healing injuries were noted either. Chief Parlier did confirm that the young girl was never reported missing by the family.
“The human form is both an amazingly strong and amazingly fragile thing,” said Chief Parlier. “After four years being underground, there are so many ways that a person could’ve perished that wouldn’t be visible on bone structure.”
What we know is that the young girl’s circle was small, but as the agency continues to investigate into what happened to Kennedy and who did it, they’re keeping as open mind as possible. The Rose Hill Police Department urges anyone with information on what happened to Kennedy to give the information to the agency by calling them at 316-776-0191 or emailing the information to police@cityofrosehill.com.
