Parents Arrested in Upstate NY for Allegedly Murdering Their Son, Abusing 4 Other Children in Ohio

child murder
Katherine and John Snyder.Handout

John and Katherine Snyder are being held without bail in Clinton County, New York.

A mother and father have been arrested in upstate New York for allegedly murdering their 8-year-old son and abusing their four other children in Ohio, authorities said.

John and Katherine Snyder, both 51, were arrested in Clinton County, just south of the Canadian border, earlier this week after the parents were indicted in Cincinnati on charges including murder, aggravated murder, felonious assault and child endangerment, according to court records.

The charges stem in part from a 2016 incident in which the Snyders' 8-year-old adopted son died, and the Hamilton County coroner's office ruled his death a homicide caused by blunt force trauma to the head, with a contributing factor of bronchial pneumonia.

The Snyders responded by filing twin civil lawsuits seeking to remove homicide as the cause of death and asked a judge to review the coroner's report.

A judge refused those requests in 2020, and the Hamilton County Department of Jobs and Family Services obtained permanent custody of the couple's four remaining children, three of them adopted and one their biological child, authorities said.

The children are grown now and in a "safe" place and have recently provided new information to prosecutors that led to indictments being filed in Ohio this week, authorities said.

The Snyders were arrested Tuesday by Clinton County Sheriff's deputies acting on behalf of Ohio authorities, the sheriff's office said. 

An extradition hearing is expected to be scheduled next week, according to the sheriff's office.

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