Kenneth White

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In the months leading up to his death five year old Kenneth White slept in a La-Z-Boy recliner wedged into a small bedroom in a cluttered trailer he shared with a half dozen people, ten cats and five dogs. Kenneth's teenage cousin Tiffany VanAlstyne slept next to him in a twin bed. Kenneth's younger sister curled up on the floor nearby in sleeping bags, and his twin sister slept down the hall in a toddler's bed. Caseworkers from Albany County's Child Protective Services visited the trailer three times, and declared it a safe living environment. But the living arrangement turned out to be deadly for Kenneth.

 

Brenda VanAlstyne knew her daughter suffers from mental health issues and was not taking her medications, she was still allowed to babysit the children. Tiffany VanAlstyne had been diagnosed with bipolar disorder and was only occasionally taking her medications. VanAlstyne often babysat her younger cousins, she woud sometimes exploded in fits of rage and may have beaten the children in the weeks before she bashed and strangled Kenneth before she dumped his body over a nearby road guardrail into the snow.

 

Tiffany called 911 and reported that two masked men broke into the home and kidnapped Kenneth and drove away in a pickup truck setting off an Amber Alert. The Amber Alert was canceled at 11:46 p.m when Kenneth’s body was found 40 yard south from the residence where he lived. There is evidence he was taken up the road, thrown over a guardrail like a piece of garbage and then covered in snow. Tiffany was charged with murder the following day. If found guilty she could face up to 20 years in prison.

 

A medical examination showed that the surviving children had bruising on their bodies allegedly inflicted by Tiffany VanAlstyne or Brenda VanAlstyne