Two more individuals now face charges following an investigation into the death of a 9-year-old girl in Fayette County in September 2025. Authorities say the women were aware of the abuse but failed to intervene, the Fayette County district attorney announced Tuesday.
The girl’s grandmother, 63-year-old Theresa Marie Shipley, and a family friend, 51-year-old Sandra Lynn Umensetter, have been charged with endangering the welfare of children and recklessly endangering another person.
Fayette County District Attorney Mike Aubele said the autopsy determined that Renesmay Eutsey died from malnourishment and neglect, along with blunt force trauma to the head, neck, torso, and extremities. Aubele added that a 7-year-old found in the same home was hospitalized with injuries similar to those that led to Eutsey’s death.
According to the district attorney, investigators reviewed cell phone data from Shipley and Umensetter, which showed both women had cared for the children multiple times in the months leading up to Eutsey’s death.
“In short, the children in the home endured severe, long-term abuse and neglect,” Aubele said in a statement. “These two defendants were present and supervised the children while the abuse occurred, yet they failed to take any action to help them.”
Authorities charged Renesmay Eutsey’s foster mother, Kourtney Eutsey, and her wife, Sarah Shipley, with homicide in connection with the girl’s death. Police found the 9-year-old’s body in the Youghiogheny River after responding to a report of a missing child at a home on Third Street in Dunbar Borough.
Police said Kourtney Eutsey told officers that Renesmay had died, but she was too afraid to call 911. Instead, she placed the body in a bag, drove to the river, and left it along the shore.
After the girl’s death, officers took a boy from the home to the hospital, where he was treated for “significant malnourishment.” Police described the situation as “torture,” saying a doctor determined the boy had suffered from “deliberate and chronic neglect.”
“She endured prolonged, systemic torture in that home that would have been obvious to anyone who had contact with these children,” Aubele said Tuesday.
In the latest charges, Theresa Shipley also faces a count of failing to report suspected child abuse. According to the criminal complaint, she works as a mental health aide at Highlands Hospital and is a mandated reporter.
Authorities expected Theresa Shipley and Umensetter to be arraigned Tuesday afternoon.
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