Woman Accused Of Killing 4-Year-Old Kendall Chick Is Guilty

The Wiscasset woman accused of killing 4-year-old Kendall Chick has been found guilty.

Kendall Chick had been placed in the care of her grandfather, and her grandfather's girlfriend Shawna Gatto. When she died in 2017, Gatto was arrested and, on Tuesday was found guilty of Depraved Indifference Murder. The State Medical Examiner said that she died after being squeezed or having a knee pushed into her stomach so hard that it caused internal bleeding.

Gatto had requested that her case be heard before a judge, rather than a jury. WABI-TV reports that her attorneys tried to blame the abuse on Chick's grandfather, but Judge Bill Stokes wasn't convinced, calling the abuse revolting, shocking, and brutal.

The 4-year-old's death was one of two that caused Mainers to start questioning the state's child welfare system. In the other case, 10-year-old Marissa Kennedy died after enduring months of torture, allegedly at the hands of her mother, Sharon Carrillo, and her step-father, Julio Carrillo. The couple is currently awaiting trial, charged with murder.