The Lebanon County Detective Bureau has charged an Annville couple in connection with the death of a 12-year-old boy.
Criminal complaints filed against 48-year-old Scott F. Schollenberger Jr. and 35-year-old Kim Maurer allege that they caused the death of Schollenberger’s son, Maxwell Schollenberger.
Maurer is identified in the complaints as the boy’s stepmother and caretaker since he was 2 years old.
The defendants face identical charges of criminal homicide, conspiracy to commit criminal homicide, endangering the welfare of children, and conspiracy to commit endangering welfare of children.
The homicide and corresponding conspiracy charges are both felonies carrying a possible life in prison or death sentence.
The endangering welfare of children and corresponding conspiracy charges are both second-degree felonies carrying maximum 10-year jail sentences.
According to the affidavit of probable cause filed with the complaints, Annville police responded to 30 S. White Oak St. on May 26 after receiving a report of a deceased child. Lebanon County land records indicate that the the Annville Township property is owned jointly by Schollenberger and Maurer.
Police found the child’s body in a second-floor bedroom that had no lights or electricity, and windows that were covered with opaque material and unable to be opened without tools. The bedroom door had exterior hooks that allowed it to be locked from outside.
Officers described the conditions inside the house, where the defendants were residing, as “horrific.” They allege that the body and the bedroom were covered in feces and that that an overpowering odor of feces permeated the entire house.
The complaints further allege that the child’s body showed signs of malnourishment.
According to the affidavit, an autopsy performed on June 1 found “multiple gross findings compatible with starvation/malnutrition” and “blunt force head trauma.”
An email this morning from the Lebanon County District Attorney said that both defendants were being held without bail in the Lebanon County Correctional Facility.
Magisterial District Judge John Ditzler’s office said this morning that preliminary hearings for both defendants are scheduled for Sept. 24 at 8 a.m.
[This article has been updated to correctly reflect the possible penalties for criminal homicide.]
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