A Kansas mom is headed to prison for nearly two decades after she stuffed her adopted 6-year-old daughter in a box and left her inside while she suffocated to death.

Crystina Elizabeth Schroer, 50, on Monday was sentenced to more than 17 years in prison for the death of Kennedy Schroer, whose body was discovered buried at the family's home in September 2024 in Rose Hill, a town of 4,000 people southeast of Wichita. Schroer in August pleaded no contest to second-degree murder , child abuse , making false information and welfare fraud. She was originally facing a first-degree murder charge.

Schroer's husband, Joseph Schroer, is slated to be sentenced on child endangerment charges on Dec. 3.

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