Father sentenced to 80 years in abuse and death of his son, 13, found buried in shallow grave after being starved and kept in dog cage
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Found dead: Christian Choate was 13-years-old when he was killed after a long period of neglect and abuse
An Indiana father whose 13-year-old son died after he was starved, beaten and kept in a dog cage has been sentenced to 80 years in prison.
Riley Choate, 40, of Hammond, was sentenced in Lake Criminal Court Friday, about a month after he pleaded guilty to felony neglect and other charges related to the death of Christian Choate.
The boy's severely malnourished body was found in a shallow grave at a mobile home park in Gary shortly after he was reported missing in May 2011.
In return for the guilty pleas, prosecutors dropped charges of murder, battery, criminal confinement and obstruction of justice.
The plea agreement states Christian died on April 2, 2009, from a combination of physical trauma, poor health and malnourishment.
'I can’t conceive of any set of facts charging neglect that could be any worse,' prosecutor Michael Woods said in court Friday, the Chicago Tribune reported.
Lake County Superior Court Judge Diane Boswell said there was plenty of blame to go around and several people had failed Christian, submitting his to two years of suffering.
Choate himself addressed the judge before learning his fate, saying: 'All my actions will haunt me forever. I loved my son.'
The father's sentencing comes eight months after Christian's stepmother, Kimberly Kubina, pleaded guilty to neglect. She is due to spend between 25 and 35 years in prison.
Christian was kept in a dog cage and Kubina told the court in May that she told his sister to only feed him Asian noodles while locked up as punishment for 'molesting' his younger step-brother.
The unidentified sister was not the only one to know about the horrible suffering that the boy endured, and up to 13 people are thought to have known about the torture without alerting the police.
Only one person claims to have taken her concerns to the authorities, according to the state's Department of Child Services records.
Investigators say the boy was beaten for several years and kept in a cage for as long as a year before he died at the age of 13 in early 2009.
His disappearance went unreported until Lake County police unearthed his body in May from a shallow grave in a Gary, Indiana mobile home park. The Lake County Coroner's Office determined he died of blunt force trauma injuries and a skull fracture.
Former neighbor Lori Wingard said she knew something was wrong in the Choate home. She said she called Department of Child Services twice to report possible child abuse and neglect.
Department of Child Services records indicate the agency received and investigated both allegations.
Mrs Wingard said she remembers watching a DCS staffer stop by the home in 2008, the Chicago Tribune reports.
'She never even stepped foot in the house,' Mrs Wingard said.
Justice: Christian's stepmother Kimberly Kubina (left) pleaded guilty to neglect in May and has agreed to testify against Christian's father, Riley Choate (right), who now has been sentenced to 80 years in prison
'Kim came out of the house and stood there at the sidewalk and talked to the lady, and I just remember thinking, "Go inside".'
When news about Christian's death first broke in May, Wingard said she felt sick for selling the family the dog cage that allegedly was used to confine him.
'There are so many people that are involved that could have helped that little boy and didn't,' she said.
'I tried, and nothing was done.'
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ShareCourt records state that the father, Riley Choate, has admitted burying Christian's body under a storage shed with a Bible across his chest but denied causing the boy's death.
Kubina, the stepmother, repeatedly has denied any wrongdoing, court and Indiana Department of Child Services records show.
Originally, she told police she thought Christian had gone to live with his biological mother.
'There are so many people that are involved that could have helped that little boy and didn't. I tried, and nothing was done.'
Kubina's sister, Belinda Bradburn, told The Times she witnessed abuse once while visiting her sister and the children when they lived in Merrillville. She said she saw Riley Choate hit Christian in the arm.
Body placement: Riley Choate has admitted burying Christian's body under a storage shed but denied causing the boy's death
'When that happened, I just said, "Kim, I'm leaving. This is kind of ridiculous that he would just hit a kid, and you need to do something about this",' Bradburn recalled.
DCS records state that Bradburn has admitted she never notified the authorities or did anything to intervene on Christian's behalf.
Others who lived in the home at various times also kept quiet, the Times report said, citing DCS records and witnesses.
A cousin who lived there kept the abuse secret because Kubina told her that if she disclosed it to anyone 'she would do to her what she did to Christian,' court records state.
Last month MailOnline reported that Christian wrote letters from his squalid prison about how he wanted his life to end.
He wrote: ‘I want to die’ on the paper given to him by his stepmother to scribble down how he felt.
Horrific: Investigators say the boy was beaten for several years and kept in a cage for as long as a year before he died at the age of 13 in early 2009
In the handwritten notes, he said he simply wanted to be liked by his family - even if they were ‘abusing’ him.
Christian writes how he had to steal food when he was hungry because his family allegedly would not feed him. He would only be let out to clean the house and was almost never allowed outside.
‘Christian wrote of why nobody liked him and how he just wanted to be liked by his family,’ DCS records state.
‘Christian stated that he wanted to die because nobody liked the way he 'acted.'
The records continue: 'Christian's writings detail a very sad, depressed child who often wondered when someone, anyone, was going to come check on him and give him food or liquid. Christian often stated he was hungry or thirsty.’
DCS records show that Choate was a known abuser who was nonetheless allowed to keep custody of his son. In August 2004 he was accused of abusing Christian, but no proof was found so the boy remained in his home.
The same month, however, he was found to have physically abused his wife's nieces whilst living with them and was cited by the DCS for ‘inappropriate discipline’.
In the years before Christian's death, records show there were eight instances of alleged abuse in houses where his family had lived.
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