On May 25, 2023, Kristie Haas agreed to a plea deal for a recommendation from the prosecution of 30 years in prison, and faced a maximum of life imprisonment without the possibility of parole.

Brandon Haas had agreed in February 2023 to a plea deal for a recommendation from the prosecution of a sentence of probation.

[2][3][4][5] According to prosecutor Kevin Smith, following extensive torture, starvation, and physical abuse, Kristie Haas found her daughter, 4-year-old Emma Grace Cole unresponsive and tried to revive her with a cold shower.

[2] Kristie burned Emma's body and discarded her skeleton into the bushes of the softball field near the Smyrna Middle School.

It had been estimated that the unidentified child was either Caucasian or Hispanic, between the ages of 2 and 5 years old, and had slightly wavy brown hair.

The unidentified child was nicknamed "Baby Elle" by law enforcement and the public until her identification.

Soon after, on October 12, Kristie and her husband, Brandon L. Haas, were arrested in Pennsylvania on charges of child abuse.

The indictment revealed that the couple deprived Emma of food, tortured her, endangered her welfare, deprived her of necessary medical care, bruised her face, forced her to exercise to an unreasonable level, inflicted inappropriate physical discipline, and burned her.

"[5][4][18] Delaware Attorney General Kathy Jennings stated of Kristie's guilty plea,[19] What this defendant did to her own daughter was heinous, and this week brings a complex and harrowing case to a just end.

I'm enormously grateful to the DOJ team and many investigators who took on this difficult case; identified Emma; and ultimately secured justice.

This was not revealed publicly at the time due to the fact that Kristie had written a letter to Brandon telling him to take out a life insurance policy on her because she was contemplating committing suicide.

Emma's family were similarly outraged by Brandon's plea deal given his lenient sentencing recommendation.

Emma's aunt, Kelsey Cole Navarro said of Brandon's plea deal, "I think it's atrocious.

Kristie stated at her sentencing, "I'm sorry for all the hurt that I inflicted and the pain that I caused … I knew everything was wrong, and I was so messed up because of everything I did.