A Schenectady father was sentenced to 27 years to life in prison Friday for the 2024 murder of his 5-year-old daughter.
When first responders arrived at the home of Robert Buskey, 35, in April 2024, they found his then-3-year-old son in a makeshift cage in the dining room and the emaciated body of his 5-year-old daughter Charlotte locked in a bedroom.
Police said Buskey had added an additional lock to the bedroom door and secured the door shut with tape, leaving his daughter inside with only a portable crib that she could barely fit into.
It was determined she had been in there for three days without food or water. Prosecutors pointed out at trial that the girl starved, even as the home was stocked with food.
Buskey entered a guilty plea in January for both his daughter’s murder and for giving his son cocaine. At Friday’s sentencing, he again admitted his guilt.
“There’s no excuse for what I did. There’s no ‘this is the reason why.’ I cannot take back what happened,” he said. “I made mistakes, I let drugs and my mental health go and that’s my problem. That’s why since Day 1 I’ve taken responsibility. I called, I knew what was going to happen, I knew I was going to jail, and I deserve it.”
Assistant Public Defender Joseph Litz reiterated his client’s consistent acknowledgment of guilt, and offered no excuses for the crimes. However, he emphasized how Buskey had struggled with a drug addiction and his mental health.
Litz also said there were plenty of people who might have been able to step in to prevent the death of Buskey’s daughter.
“But I can say, judge, when there’s a discussion about not going to the doctor’s appointments for the pediatricians, the medical records indicated that,” Litz said. “Did the pediatricians follow up on that? Did CPS, if we’ve got the neighbor that says that they heard Mr. Buskey’s daughter say ‘Daddy, stop?’ Did the neighbors get involved? And the answer is no.
“Did family members get involved? The answer is no. And we can talk about this, judge, and although it’s a frustrating, I don’t want to say it’s a factual item that we’re dealing with here, but those are the facts of this case.”
Judge Matthew Sypniewski did not buy into those potential mitigating factors.
“This is not a referendum case on the mental health services within the county, the Child Protective Services, substance abuse services or anything to do with anybody else or any other agency,” he said. “This has everything and only to do with only what could be an absolute narcissist, self-absorbed, individual who is so selfish and has no empathy for what was a locked-up 5-year-old starving to death behind that door. That’s what it’s about.”
While parole remains a possibility for Buskey, the judge emphasized that this was one of the most cruel, horrific, and agonizing cases the county has ever seen.
“Some irony is that you’re going to be locked up yourself for the rest of your life,” Sypniewski said. “And it’s already been mentioned, but in conditions better than your own daughter suffered. Locked up for the rest of your life which is I suppose how it should be. You agree with that? Yeah, that’s about the only thing you’ve said that’s made sense. Acknowledging that. At least maybe buried deep down in there somewhere there might be some conscience.”
A temporary order of protection was also issued, preventing Buskey from seeing his son. He is set to appear in family court later this month where an additional order of protection is expected to be issued.
