GARY, Ind., May 3 (UPI) -- An Indiana woman pleaded guilty to her involvement in the death of her 13-year-old stepson who was found buried in a trailer park.
In exchange for a sentence of 25 to 35 years in prison, Kimberly Leona Kubina pleaded guilty Wednesday to neglect of a dependent for her role in the 2009 death of Christian Choate and agreed to testify against her ex-husband and the boy's father, Riley Lowell Choate, the Chicago Sun-Times reported.
Kubina testified Riley Choate beat his son regularly between January 2007 and April 2009 after finding Christian and another boy pant-less in the family's home in Merrillville.
The parents pulled the child out of Iddings Elementary School when the school noticed bruises on the boy.
Kubina said the boy was confined to his bedroom until the family moved to a mobile home in Black Oak. There, Christian was kept in a bathroom, then a bedroom he shared with his father.
At some point, the boy escaped from the home but was later found at a Walgreens store by Kubina and a relative. After that, he was kept in a dog cage, only let out to eat, use the bathroom and exercise.
Kubina, on Choate's orders, had Christian's sister, who was between the ages of 13 and 15 during the abuse, oversee Christian's care.
On April 2, 2009, while Kubina was out, she received a call from Christian's sister saying there was something wrong with "grandma." When she returned home, Christian was dead.
When she alerted Choate to the boy's death, Kubina was told to "take care of it." Kubina made Christian's sister wrap the boy's body in blanket, place it in two plastic garbage bags and a plastic tote before Kubina and the girl carried it across the street to a relative's trailer.
When Choate arrived home, Kubina and Choate buried the boy under a shed at the trailer park.
Choate has pleaded not guilty to murder, neglect of a dependent, battery and confinement charges filed in Christian's death, as well as other felony charges related to the disposal of the body.
