Pocono News Section

More: Plea Ends 8 Year Investigation

More: Plea Ends 8 Year Investigation - Monday, December 8, 2008 at 4:00PM EST

STROUDSBURG - An East Stroudsburg man accused of killing one of his children and brutally beating another was supposed to face a jury Monday. Instead Mckinley Warren made a last minute guilty plea.

Warren avoided trial and a possible life sentence. After he pled guilty the judge sentenced him to between 25 and 50 years in jail. For one investigator this ends a long personal story. Captain William Parrish of the Stroud Area Regional Police said this abuse case is one of the worst he's seen in 31 years as an officer.

Parrish said, "I take pride in trying to protect the elderly, or the young and the defenseless."

Today he's a police captain. Eight years ago he was a detective. And there's a moment in that role that haunts him to this day. He recalled, "December third 2000 when I saw the autopsy of a two and a half year old girl."

That little girl was Jessica Bock. Parrish said her father starved her, ignored her and eventually beat her to death. "I don't want to describe it. It's really too gross," he said.

Doctors said Jessica had a head injury that would require the force of a 20 or 30 mile an hour crash. Parrish knew it was murder but he didn't have enough evidence to take it to court. He explained, "In criminal court you have one shot, if you charge and lose that's it."

So Mckinley Warren remained free for seven more years. Then investigators say they learned Warren brutally beat his three year old son almost daily. "I apologize to him for not being able to get Mckinley Warren in jail before he could do this to another kid," said Parrish.

The new information helped the murder case. Assistant District Attorney [Mike Mancuso said, "It allowed us to connect the two and bring homicide charges on Jessica."

A grand jury looked at both cases and found there was enough evidence to charge Warren. He avoided trial and a possible life sentence by pleading guilty Monday. He'll now spend between 25 and 50 years in jail.

Parrish said, "He's 43 years old we believe it's the best interest of the public to get a guaranteed lengthy jail sentence here."

He also said it could take him a long time to get over his feelings of guilt.

Isaiah has recovered from his injuries and is now living with family.