Parents of slain girl admit misuse of memorial fund
The parents of Annette J. Bright, the 8-year-old girl murdered by a family friend in 2001, pleaded guilty Wednesday to using cash from a charitable memorial fund created to pay for their daughter's funeral to purchase a used car.
John and Annette M. Bright entered a general plea of guilty before Westmoreland County Judge Richard E. McCormick Jr. As part of the plea, if the two pay $300 in restitution before their July sentencing, prosecutors will recommend probation and reduce the theft charges to misdemeanors.
"They anticipate being able to pay the $300 before sentencing," said Annette Bright's attorney, Meagan Bilik, Westmoreland County deputy public defender.
A general plea means that the judge decides the sentence.
The couple's daughter was killed by Charles E. Koschalk on July 15, 2001. Koschalk admitted to shooting the girl in the head while the two were in the woods, then burying her body in a shallow grave in Rostraver Township. Her body was found two days later.
He was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.
In addition to the murder case, Koschalk also was charged with raping Marcia Bright, the slain girl's older sister. Prosecutors eventually withdrew those charges as a condition to Koschalk's pleading guilty to first-degree murder.
The young girl's murder was the first in a string of public incidents involving her family. Shortly after her death, her sister and brother were taken from their parents by the county's Children's Bureau and placed in foster care, where they remain today.
Parents John and Annette Bright repeatedly have tried to regain custody of their surviving children but have not been successful.
During child custody hearings for the two Bright children last year, family members and friends testified that John and Annette Bright knew about the ongoing relationship between the children and Koschalk.
Koschalk's sister-in-law said the parents allowed him to keep seeing the children because he lavished gifts on the family. When they were accused of taking $4,300 from the memorial fund to buy the car, they explained that they needed the car to replace the vehicle they had been using because it was owned by Koschalk.
John Bright had filed a wrongful death lawsuit in U.S. District Court against the state, county, city of Monessen and Koschalk that was thrown out in September. Bright is appealing that decision.
