Kristen Lynn Tatar's life and death are a mystery to Brian and Linda Hill, even a year after the 4-year-old's body was found mere yards from their Armstrong County home.
Only a redwood fence separates their lot from the Kepple Avenue rental property where Kristen's family had been living.
"Our pool is 15 feet from that attic (where authorities contend the child was left to starve to death in early July 2003). You'd think you would hear a peep, a cry, a sob or something. But there was nothing. We didn't know that poor little thing was lying up there dying. If we had only known, we would have done something," Linda Hill said.
One year ago today, Tatar's tiny, malnourished body was found in a picnic cooler inside a garbage can near a small red shed behind the Parks Township house where she lived for a time with her parents and brother.
It was rainy and muggy at 6 p.m. on Aug. 7, 2003, when state police, armed with a search warrant, looked into that garbage can and opened the cooler. What they found shook the neighborhood to its core and sparked a firestorm of criticism aimed at child welfare departments in two counties.
Later, a witness saw Armstrong County Coroner Robert Bower "with a blank look on his face" effortlessly carry the cooler to his truck.
An autopsy report said a large shoelace was tied to the girl's ankle. She weighed just 111/2 pounds.
James Anthony Tatar, 42, and Janet Lynn Crawford, 36, are accused of killing their daughter.
Armstrong County District Attorney Scott Andreassi has indicated in court papers that he may seek the death penalty against the defendants, who remain in the Armstrong County Jail while awaiting trial on charges of homicide, aggravated assault, endangering the welfare of children, recklessly endangering another person, abuse of a corpse and criminal conspiracy.
On Sept. 27, jurors will be drawn from a pool of Washington County residents for Crawford's trial, which is slated to begin the first Monday after a panel is seated. Crawford is represented by attorney Preston Younkins. Tatar's jury selection, from a pool of Somerset County residents, is expected to take place in November, according to his defense attorney, Joseph Caruso.
The trials will be held in Armstrong County.
A year after the grisly discovery, Kristen's half-sister, Jaycee Reese, continues to ask why Armstrong County Children and Youth Services officials didn't push harder to see the child when they were allegedly told she was on a shopping trip or in a "hospice."
Reese, in a phone interview, said she visited her mother on several occasions, getting excuses when she asked about Kristen's whereabouts. Reese and Kristen are both Crawford's biological daughters. After Crawford divorced Reese's father, Reese was adopted into another family and is now a high school junior in the Ligonier area.
"I just want to know the truth," Reese said.
Child welfare agency employees refused to discuss the case because of a federal lawsuit filed this summer by Kristen's aunt, Kathy Fondrk, of Laurel Run, Parks Township. Fondrk and other relatives also declined comment.
But neighbors and foster parents say they still are stunned.
"You never expect something like that in your neighborhood," Brian Hill said.
Investigators believe Kristen, who was born with a serious digestive disorder, spent much of the last part of her life in the attic of the small, white-frame house with black shutters.
"Everyone thought they had one child. Certainly, if anyone would have known what was happening, they would have called the authorities," said Clay Kunselman, who lives on Kepple Avenue near the Crawford Avenue intersection.
"This is still hard to believe," said neighbor Lenny Blogeaux, whose Crawford Avenue home is around the corner.
Records show Kristen's family moved to Kepple Avenue after living in a Lower Burrell mobile home and a house in Vandergrift.
Kristen, born in 1999, wasn't thriving at times. Children's bureaus in Westmoreland and Armstrong counties had on-and-off custody of the girl.
Even while in foster care, Kristen wasn't a large child, despite having surgery early in life to repair her digestive system, according to foster parent, Lori Weimer, of Stahlstown. Caseworkers were said to call her "Tatar tot" because of her size and pleasant personality, according to published reports.
Weimer said the girl weighed about 25 pounds just before she was removed from her home and returned to her parents.
Records show that people worried about Kristen, including another foster parent and some relatives. According to records, some of Kristen's relatives said they repeatedly urged caseworkers to investigate because Kristen was apparently missing from her house.
They allege that a neighborhood girl was used as a stand-in to trick a caseworker and that people were told Kristen was out of town on a shopping trip with her father or that she was "in a hospice."
Meanwhile, records show Fondrk also was pushing officials to intervene. And at some point, caseworkers were separately trying to locate the child, whose body was found wrapped in heavy-gauge plastic secured with industrial tape.
Reese remembers Kristen, at 2, as a "very happy girl most of the time." After Reese was adopted and moved from the family home, she saw Kristen infrequently, and then, not at all.
Reese said her half-brother, Nicholas, who was 6 when Kristen died, said Kristen frequently was kept in the attic by their parents. She said he told her about a bedroom where he was forbidden to go. According to police reports, Reese entered the room and was met with an overpowering smell.
She said she was once scolded by Crawford for sitting on a cooler outside.
"I sat on that cooler and didn't even know she was in it until later," she said. "This hasn't been easy. I'm still going through it."
Neighborhood residents lament that authorities didn't do more for Kristen.
Debbie Cibik also wonders why the authorities didn't break the door down when they believed the girl was missing.
"They go in when there's drugs. Why didn't they do that?" she asked. "They should have checked on the kids more often."
Other neighbors occasionally think about the young girl they never saw.
"I definitely think the caseworkers are overwhelmed," said Linda Hill, who, with her husband, was a foster parent. "The rules need to be changed. If the courts have reasons to take a child out of a home, there should be no reason to send them back."
Investigators in Armstrong County gather in the back yard of a Park Township home where the body of 4-year-old Kristen Lynn Tatar was found in a picnic cooler inside a garbage can on Aug. 7, 2003. A year to the day has passed since Kristen's malnourished body was recovered. Friends and family are still in shock, left to ponder the fate of James Anthony Tatar and Janet Lynn Crawford, who could face the death penalty if convicted of killing their daughter.
Kristen Lynn Tatar's half-sister, Jaycee Reese, once was scolded by her mother, Janet Lynn Crawford, for sitting on a cooler outside.
'I sat on that cooler and didn't even know she was in it until later. This hasn't been easy. I'm still going through it.'
Kristen Lynn Tatar, 4, was called 'Tatar tot' by child welfare caseworkers because of her petite size and pleasant personality.
A life too short
Jan. 29, 1999 -- Kristen Tatar is born with a rare condition in which her esophagus is not attached to her stomach.
Dec. 2, 1999 -- Kristen is hospitalized at Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh of UPMC Health System, Oakland.
Dec. 14, 1999 -- Westmoreland County Children's Bureau takes legal custody of Kristen after parents fail to follow through with medical appointments.
Dec. 21, 1999 -- Kristen is placed in foster care.
Jan. 13, 2000 -- Kristen is returned to parents.
April 20, 2000 -- Kristen is again placed in foster home after children's bureau caseworkers determine parents failed to provide child with proper medical attention.
April 20, 2000 to Sept. 17, 2001 -- Kristen is placed in four foster homes while in children's bureau care.
Sept. 17, 2001 -- Hearing is held in Westmoreland County before special court Master Annaliese Masser. Decision is made for Kristen to be returned to her parents.
Sept. 21, 2001 -- Westmoreland County Judge Rita Hathaway signs order for parents Janet Crawford and James Tatar to regain custody of Kristen.
March 28, 2002 -- Last in-home visit by children's bureau caseworker.
May 7, 2002 -- Penn State Extension makes last visit to Tatar home; Westmoreland County caseworkers continue to monitor case.
May 13, 2002 -- Westmoreland County closes case and transfers oversight to Armstrong County Children and Youth Services.
July 2003 -- Kristen dies in her attic bed, according to jailhouse letters Crawford writes two months later. James Tatar, she writes, bags the corpse while she and her 6-year-old son tear strips of tape for him.
Aug. 7, 2003 -- Kristen Tatar's body is found wrapped in a trash bag near a shed behind her parents' home. She weighs less than 12 pounds. James Tatar and Crawford are charged with first-degree murder.
