From the Reading Eagle, 10/16/19, 5:03 PM
Bullying may have prompted deaths of Albany Township children, according to radio traffic
The boy, 8, and girl, 4, were found hanging and unresponsive by their mother. "She mentioned the 8-year-old has been bullied and has made threats of doing this but didn't want to go alone," a dispatcher said on the day of the incident.
WRITTEN BY
DAN KELLY AND
JEREMY LONG
A radio communication between Berks County dispatchers and first responders adds details in the deaths of two Albany Township children.
Conner Snyder, 8, and Brinley L. Snyder, 4, were unresponsive when discovered by their mother, Lisa Rachelle Snyder, 36, but were revived on their way to the hospital, investigators said. The children were placed on life support and pronounced dead three days later in Lehigh Valley Hospital near Allentown.
The mother found them hanging from the basement rafters by a dog lead, state police say.
Snyder called 9-1-1 shortly after 4:30 p.m. and county dispatchers sent first responders to the scene.
Before heading to the house, a first responder asked if there was any indication from the call if the scene was safe or how the children ended up there, according to radio communications on Broadcastify.
According to the Broadcastify file of the radio traffic, the dispatcher responded: "She mentioned the 8-year-old has been bullied and has made threats of doing this but didn't want to go alone. … At this time it should just be the mother and the two children on scene."
Berks County District Attorney John T. Adams said he had no comment.
"It is a very active investigation," he said.
Adams said anyone with information should contact his office or state police.
Broadcastify is a website that carries emergency radio dispatches and archives them.
Troopers said they received a call from Berks County Communications on Sept. 23 at about 4:30 p.m. with a report of two juvenile victims found hanging and unresponsive in the basement of 2442 Route 143. They obtained six warrants to search the home for evidence.
The children were found hanging from opposite ends of a plastic coated dog lead that had been wrapped around the main support beam of the basement ceiling, according to an affidavit in support of a search warrant.
Two chairs that had been taken from the house's dining room were tipped over on the floor on either side of the bodies, court papers say.
Medics from the Kempton Fire Company found the children, who were then flown to the hospital. The victims were in full cardiac arrest before being revived en route to the hospital. They were admitted to the pediatric intensive care unit on full life support.
Three days later, on Sept. 26, the children were removed from life support. They were pronounced dead 14 minutes apart.
Lisa Snyder and her 17-year-old son, who was living in the house, told troopers that Conner Snyder frequently played video games and would surf the internet using an XBox gaming console. Police seized the console, cellphones, two tablets and a laptop computer, according to court papers.
During a later interview, Lisa Snyder told troopers she owned a black medium-sized dog, a husky pit bull mix weighing about 50 pounds. She said the dog had been kept outside the residence attached to a wire cable lead with a plastic coating. Troopers said Lisa Snyder has since given the dog away.
Troopers also seized copies of the medical records and toxicology testing done on the children at the hospital prior to and after their deaths.
