A young girl in Pennsylvania was found dead in a river hours after being reported missing. Renesmay Eutsey was missing for nearly 12 hours before her foster mom allegedly reported her disappearance to police. After her body was found, horrific details about her life began to emerge. There are serious accusations of abuse that the girl allegedly faced at the hands of her foster mom. Now, that same woman faces criminal charges.
Pennsylvania State Police said the 9-year-old was found partially submerged in the Youghiogheny River about 3:30 a.m. September 4, 2025, WPXI reported. Around 12:40 p.m. September 3, state police were called to the home of 31-year-old Kourtney Eutsey, who had reported the girl missing.
According to court documents, a woman named Sarah Shipley, who is listed as Eutsey’s wife, told investigators that the children in the home, including Renesmay, went to bed about 2:30 a.m. She said when she woke up around noon, the girl wasn’t in her room. Shipley claimed another child in the home said the girl had talked about running away. The bedroom window was allegedly cracked open.
One child interviewed by state troopers allegedly told them that Eutsey had killed her sister and put her in a tote, WTAE reported. “I’m never going to see my baby sister again because she’s in heaven,” the child said.
The child said she heard Eutsey and Shipley say “they were going to take the victim to a river ‘far, far away.’” She then heard Renesmay screaming before the women began yelling at her. The two women also reportedly kicked the girl in the stomach. When they noticed the other girl watching, Shipley punched her in the mouth. The girl also shared that she saw the little girl’s body in a garbage bag that was put into a tote.
Christina Benedetto, the girl’s biological mother, spoke with KDKA-TV about her daughter’s death. The woman said Eutsey is a blood relative who had taken custody of Renesmay in 2019 and was caring for her three other siblings, 7, 4, and 2 years old.
“Why put her in a tote, in a garbage bag, and throw her away like she didn’t mean anything? She meant something, at least to us. She meant everything to us,” Benedetto said. “They will regret putting a hand on my child when they were supposed to protect them.”
“My baby didn’t deserve that. She was innocent. She still had her whole life ahead of her,” the mom continued, per KDKA-TV. “Where is Renesmay’s justice?”
When police talked to Eutsey, she told them Renesmay had choked while vomiting, CBS News reported. She said she tried to clear the girl’s mouth, but then she died. The woman said she was afraid to call 911 because the girl had allegedly burned herself in the tub a week earlier.
Renesmay also was extremely skinny. At the time of her death, she only weighed 45 pounds. Fayette County District Attorney Mike Aubele said her body showed signs of abuse and neglect.
“I can’t wrap my head around how somebody would do something like this to a child,” he said. “And just for her, sweet, beautiful little girl, just had to have lived in horror.”
Eutsey is facing charges including criminal homicide, two counts of aggravated assault, endangering the welfare of children, abuse of a corpse, concealing the death of a child, and tampering with evidence, per WPXI. She is being held without bond at Fayette County Prison.
An autopsy to determine the cause of death is pending, and authorities are continuing to investigate the case.
If you suspect child abuse, you can call the Childhelp National Child Abuse Hotline at 1-800-422-4453 (1-800-4-A-Child) or go to Childhelp.org. The hotline is available 24/7.
