Another Russian Child Killed in the U.S.

A Married Couple Is Charged with Murder

In the state of Pennsylvania, charges are being filed in the murder of a 7-year-old child who, along with his twin sister, had been adopted from Chelyabinsk. Forensic experts counted over 80 injuries on the deceased boy’s body, 20 of which were on the head. The cause of death was determined to be traumatic brain injuries. Attempts by doctors at a local hospital to save the child were unsuccessful.

Although Ivan Skorobogatov, whose name was changed to Nathaniel Michael Craver after his adoption, died on Aug. 25, 2009, official charges against his adoptive parents, Michael and Nanette Craver, were only filed this past Friday upon the completion of a six-month investigation and forensic examination. The Cravers are being charged with homicide, life endangerment and criminal conspiracy that took place from May until Aug. 24, 2009.

The Cravers are now in district prison awaiting a scheduled hearing on March 31, during which it will be determined whether the couple will be allowed to be released on bail before the trial. Ivan’s twin sister Dasha, who was adopted along with him, was placed in the care of relatives.

Since 2003 Ivan lived with his sister and adoptive parents in the community of Carroll Township (York County, Pennsylvania). According to a claim by Michael Craver, on Aug. 19 Ivan fell, and his head struck the stove. Upon examining the child, Nanette Craver allegedly discovered only a little swelling and a slight mark from the blow, after which she applied ice and put Ivan to bed. However, the next morning the adoptive mother found the child unconscious and the parents took the boy to Hershey hospital. The doctors established that Ivan was near death and connected him to an artificial life-support system. On Aug. 24, at the request of the Cravers, they turned the system off and the child died the next day.

Doctors found over 80 injuries in various stages of healing on the small child’s body. Of these, 20 were on his head. An entire file of evidence regarding injuries on the child’s body was gathered in the investigation. According to testimony from Ivan’s adoptive grandmother Sandy Craver, she visited the family at the end of May 2009 and was shocked by Ivan’s swollen eyelids, by his eyes which were only two small slits, and also by an enormous lump on his forehead. According to the accused, the child had a disease which caused him to constantly injure himself.

Neighbors each described the couple differently. Some called them thoughtful parents, and others called them withdrawn people who never left their home. About two years ago they removed their adopted children from school, promising to teach them at home.

As stated by the Presidential Commissioner for Children’s Rights, Pavel Astakhov, he intends to seek information regarding the death of Ivan Skorobogatov from the American authorities. According to him, the problem of domestic violence is the most acute problem in the world, “and in both America and Russia, unfortunately, it occupies a dishonorable position.” In an interview with “NG,” Chairman of the Russian State Duma’s International Affairs Committee Konstantin Kosachev stated, “There are sufficient serious complaints toward the American side, which has not informed the Russian side of occurrences in accordance with operating procedure. This obliges the American authorities to report the death of an adopted child to the Russian side within five days.” Kosachev intends to send a letter to the chairman of the U.S. House Committee on Foreign Affairs Howard Berman, to bring to the attention of his colleagues the American authorities’ untimely execution in fulfilling their obligations. In addition, Kosachev expects “the harshest demarches to the corresponding American authorities” from the Foreign Ministry and the Ministry of Education.

Kosachev noted that the U.S. and Russia have not signed a bilateral agreement, which could have served as the legal foundation for the settlement of questions regarding adoption. “We have brought up with the American side, and continue to bring up on a regular basis, our initiative to sign that type of agreement,” he said, “but for the time being we don’t see willingness from the American side to move towards such an agreement. They always suggest that we should join the Hague Convention on Inter-country Adoption. This is also a possibility, but I think that a bilateral agreement — we already have that type of agreement with Italy — would be appropriate now more than ever. This tragedy, I am deeply convinced, must motivate us to an even greater extent to sharply accelerate our work in this direction.”

According to data from ITAR-TASS, this is already the 16th case of a Russian child’s death in the U.S. since 1996. (Interfax counted seventeen cases.) In 14 such episodes, the adoptive parents were charged with criminal responsibility. The total number of adopted children in the U.S. from Russia is in the tens of thousands. According to official data, there are 800,000 orphans today in Russia. The number of street urchins in Russia right now is higher than in the entire USSR after the war.