Parents get prison

Kevin and Elizabeth Schatz, the Paradise couple who pleaded guilty in April to several counts related to the beating death of an adopted daughter and injuries to her sister and a biological son, were sentenced Friday (June 10) to prison.

Butte County Superior Court Judge Kristen Lucena ordered that Kevin will serve at least 22 years of two life sentences for second-degree murder and torture. His wife, Elizabeth, will serve at least 13 years for voluntary manslaughter and corporal injury on a child.

The Schatzes had adopted Lydia and her older sister from an orphanage in Liberia. They were arrested in February 2010 after Lydia was taken to the hospital, where she died. She’d been beaten with a piece of plumber’s supply line.