PHILADELPHIA – A Philadelphia husband and wife who believe in faith healing over medicine have been charged with murder after a second child died of pneumonia.
Herbert and Catherine Schaible face third-degree murder, child endangerment and other charges in the April death of their 8-month-old son Brandon. A prosecutor says the Schaibles are entitled to their religious beliefs – but not when it endangers their children. The couple is suspected of ignoring a court order to seek medical care for their children.
The Schaibles are members and former teachers at the First Century Gospel Church in northeast Philadelphia. Prosecutors call Brandon’s death “eerily similar” to that of his 2-year-old brother Kent in 2009.
Defense lawyers call the couple loving parents who did not intend for their sons to die.
