Child's death could mean life termsfor 'disciplinarian' couple in Butte

A Butte County couple suspected of killing their 7-year-old adopted daughter waived their preliminary hearing last week. They return to court June 24 to learn their trial date.

Kevin and Elizabeth Schatz, of Paradise, each face life prison terms on charges of murder, torture and child abuse for the Feb. 6 death of Lydia Schatz. They are also accused of beating her 11-year-old sister seriously enough to out her in the hospital.

Paradise and Chico newspapers reported:

“Both girls reportedly had whip-like marks, allegedly from being beaten for hours with a quarter-inch plumbing supply line.

The girls were both adopted from an African orphanage about three years ago, along with an infant girl. They joined the Schatz family, which included six biological children.

According to authorities, the Schatzes followed child training and disciplinary methods espoused by Michael and Debi Pearl. Kevin and Elizabeth Schatz both retained attorneys and pleaded not guilty to all charges in March.

The pair is being held in the Butte County Jail in lieu of $2 million bail each.

The Pearls favor a “spank and save” theory of child-rearing in their so-called No Greater Joy ministry, their web site states.

The Pearls also co-authored the book, “To Train Up a Child;” paperback, $7.95, which gets some blistering reviews on Amazon. Consider this hostile, enumerated opinion from someone who signs herself, “R. Craig, ‘Mother’”:

1) The Pearls recommend whipping infants only a few months old on their bare skin. They describe whipping their own 4 month old daughter (p.9). They recommend whipping the bare skin of "every child" (p.2) for "Christians and non-Christians" (p.5) and for "every transgression" (p.1). Parents who don't whip their babies into complete submission are portrayed as indifferent, lazy, careless and neglectful (p.19) and are "creating a Nazi" (p.45).

According to the reviewer, "Barnes and Noble no longer sells this book."

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