Stepmother accused of burning girl's hands among other abuse

BUTLER COUNTY, Pa. — A Butler County woman accused of abusing her 6-year-old stepdaughter faced a judge on Monday.

Channel 11's Amy Marcinkiewicz reported that Tonya Schmidt was charged after police said she used a gas stove to burn her stepdaughter's hands, resulting in second-degree burns.

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The criminal complaint detailed other abuse to which Schmidt is accused of subjecting the child at a home on East Pearl Street in Butler.

Police got most of their information from the 6-year-old girl. According to police paperwork, she told detectives that “Mama held her hands over the flames, one at a time.”

Additionally, the girl said Schmidt hit her with a “big spoon from the kitchen” and forced her to hold full gallon jugs of water as punishment, the criminal complaint said.

The first-grader told police that Schmidt had been hurting her since she was 3 years old.

According to police paperwork, the child told detectives that Schmidt also tried to drown her by placing her head underwater in the bathtub. The girl said it’s happened more than once and makes “her body feel sad,” the complaint said.

Detectives said they believe that the child didn’t speak out because they said Schmidt threatened to kill her if she told anyone about what happened.

Cox Media Group