Ex-MMA Fighter Starved Young Daughter to Death and Locked Son in Cage So He Could Play Video Games

A man from Schenectady, New York, admitted in court that he locked his 5-year-old daughter in a bedroom without food or water for months, leaving her to die while he used drugs and played video games.

Robert S. Buskey Jr., 35, pleaded guilty on Jan. 23 in Schenectady County Court to second-degree murder and criminal sale of a controlled substance to a child, in front of Judge Matthew J. Sypniewski. Under the plea deal, Buskey will receive the maximum sentence allowed by law: 25 years to life for the murder conviction, plus two additional years for the drug charge — totaling 27 years to life — when he is sentenced on March 27, according to a press release from the Schenectady County District Attorney’s Office.

As part of the agreement, Buskey also waived his right to appeal. Prosecutors said an order of protection will be issued preventing him from contacting his son, who is now 5.

In his guilty plea, Buskey admitted that, “under circumstances evincing a depraved indifference to human life,” he recklessly engaged in conduct that created a grave risk of serious injury or death to his daughter, Charlotte, and that his actions ultimately caused her death, the district attorney’s office said.

First responders were called to Buskey’s home on April 14, 2024, after reports of an unresponsive child. Prosecutors described what they found as a “house of horrors,” alleging the home was in deplorable condition and that Charlotte’s emaciated body was discovered locked inside a bedroom. Authorities also said a makeshift cage was found in the dining room, where Buskey kept his 3-year-old son.

Investigators said the children had been neglected and malnourished for months, and that they had been completely cut off from the outside world — no contact with family members, no medical appointments, and no enrollment in school.

“Their world shrunk to the confines of Mr. Buskey’s deplorable home, and ultimately, for Charlotte, the confines of her bedroom in which Mr. Buskey kept her locked, and Jackson, in his cage, so Mr. Buskey could do drugs, play video games, and not be bothered by his children,” prosecutors said.

Authorities said Buskey installed a lock on the outside of Charlotte’s bedroom door, and later reinforced it with tape after he discovered she could escape by jiggling the handle.

Inside the room, prosecutors said Charlotte did not have a bed — only a pack-and-play so small she was forced to lie in a fetal position. They said she was left without food, water, or meaningful human contact, even though the home contained food and boxes were reportedly stored just outside the locked bedroom door.

An autopsy later determined Charlotte died from dehydration and starvation, prosecutors said, adding that her body contained no food. Prosecutors also said both children tested positive for cocaine. In addition to the murder charge, Buskey pleaded guilty to giving a narcotic drug to his young son.

Buskey has been in custody since his arrest in April 2024. His attorney, Joseph Litz, could not immediately be reached for comment.