Family members of a 12-year-old Chester County girl who allegedly died after years of abuse and torture at the hands of her father and his girlfriend – a woman previously convicted in the death of a 2-year-old – have filed lawsuits against those who, the lawsuit says, should have done more to protect her.

On Wednesday, three half-sisters of Malinda Hoagland – Emily Lee, Jamie and Abbey Hoagland – filed suit against the County of Chester, Chester County Children, Youth & Families, the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the County of Monroe, the Monroe County Office of Children & Youth, the Coatesville Area School District, North Brandywine Middle School, the Upper Dublin School District and the Horace S. Scott Middle School.

According to a statement from the sisters’ lawyers on the lawsuit, the two men are accused of wrongful death, repeated violations of the “State-Created Danger Doctrine” and overall blatant negligence and recklessness, which is reflected in numerous other lawsuits, among others.

Chester County investigators concluded that Malinda Hoagland had suffered years of abuse and torture at the hands of her father, Rendell Hoagland, and her stepmother, Cindy Warren.

Both are accused of premeditated murder, conspiracy, kidnapping and aggravated assault, among hundreds of other charges.

The autopsy revealed that Malinda died of starvation and multiple blunt force trauma. The girl weighed 50 pounds at the time of her death and had about 75 bruises, contusions, ulcers and pressure marks all over her body, investigators said.

“There is no doubt that law enforcement will bring justice for the unlawful and unconscionable actions of Rendell Hoagland and Cindy Warren. But this is only one path of justice aimed at holding the perpetrators of this cruel torture and killing accountable,” the sisters’ attorney, Tom Bosworth, said in a statement. “The civil actions are designed to ensure that the educators, social workers and institutions that all miserably failed Malinda are held fully accountable for their heinous actions. The award of punitive damages is necessary not only to punish these defendants for their reckless conduct, but also as a deterrent so that something like this never happens again.”

Lawyers said a lawsuit was also filed Wednesday in Philadelphia County Court of Common Pleas against Commonwealth Charter Academy, charging manslaughter, negligence and recklessness, among other charges.

The combined lawsuits seek millions of dollars in punitive and compensatory damages, the sisters’ lawyers said in a statement, claiming there were “red flags and warning signs that were missed.”

For example, in 2009, Warren was sentenced to seven years in prison after being charged with her role in the death of her ex-husband’s two-year-old daughter.

“These lawsuits are about accountability for everything my father and his girlfriend did to my sister, and the failure to protect her from such torture and abuse by her schools and state and county officials,” Abbey Hoagland said in a statement. “While we think every day about what she went through, the horrors and pain she endured, we simply want to make sure that no other child will ever have to endure such cruelty while those responsible for protecting her look the other way.”

Malinda was excluded from in-person classes in November 2023, investigators said.

According to school authorities, school records showed that the girl had about 25 unexcused absences and an additional 10 excused absences in 2023. After she was expelled from school at the end of 2023, she attended a cyber school.

According to investigators, Malinda’s father and stepmother covered up the beatings with makeup and tied her legs to the floor during virtual classes.

However, investigators also said there was no evidence that the school Malinda attended failed to meet legal requirements for reporting abuse.

They also said evidence suggests teachers at both schools often checked in with Malinda.

Bosworth and his colleague, the sisters’ attorney, Alexandria “Ally” Crouthamel, plan to hold a press conference on Wednesday to discuss the lawsuits.

This is a breaking news story and will be updated as new information becomes available.