A Spalding County judge on Monday denied bond for a husband and wife accused of starving their 10-year-old son who was found wandering in their Griffin neighborhood last month weighing just 36 pounds.
Tyler and Krista Schindley appeared briefly for the hearing in Superior Court, which was previously postponed twice to allow them time to secure legal representation. Judge Benjamin Coker denied their bonds on the grounds that they presented a significant flight risk and could influence witnesses, primarily the emaciated 10-year-old and the four other children who lived with them.
The couple were arrested May 12 after neighbors encountered the child in the street. Weighing about half the total of a typical 10-year-old, he asked to be taken to the grocery store to get something to eat, Spalding County District Attorney Marie Broder has said. He also asked not to be sent back home. Instead, he was taken to a hospital for malnutrition and a low heart rate.
The Griffin police investigators called to the Schindley home uncovered alleged abuse dating to May 2020, according to Broder. It did not appear that food was withheld from the other children, and at the time of their arrest, it was not clear why the 10-year-old was the only one starving, the district attorney said.
They each face numerous charges including criminal attempt to commit murder, varying degrees of child cruelty, battery and false imprisonment.
In court Monday, a prosecutor said the Schindleys had fostered and adopted five children, gaining “quite a bit of financial benefit” in the process. She told Coker that the couple would likely have the means to flee the jurisdiction of the court if they were let out of jail.
She also worried about contact with their younger children, who are in the custody of the Georgia Division of Family and Children Services.
Both Tyler and Krista Schindley have older children from previous relationships. Krista’s son, Ethan Washburn, 20, of Franklin, Tennessee, was arrested earlier this month on accusations he choked his now 10-year-old stepbrother at some point between June 2020 and February 2023, according to his arrest warrants.
Washburn remains in the Spalding County jail alongside his mother and stepfather.
Few details about the child abuse investigation have been made public. The children were home-schooled, limiting their interactions with other adults in public, and a spokesperson for DFCS declined to comment on the specifics of the reported abuse case.
The owners of True Rest Float Spa, a chain that offers sensory depravation therapy, said following the Schindleys’ arrests they had severed all ties with the couple, who ran spas in Peachtree City and McDonough.
“This comes as a shocking reminder to us that things aren’t always what they seem,” the owners said in a videotaped statement.
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