Bob Buskey, former MMA fighter, pleads guilty after 5-year-old daughter starves to death
Bob Buskey, full name Robert Buskey Jr., will serve a maximum of 27 years in prison after pleading guilty to murder in his daughter’s 2024 starvation death.
The former amateur mixed martial arts fighter pleaded guilty to second-degree murder and criminal sale of a controlled substance to a child on Jan. 23.
On April 14, 2024, first responders arrived at a home after receiving a report of an unresponsive child. The body of Charlotte Buskey, 5, was found in a portable crib inside a locked bedroom. Her 3-year-old brother was found in a makeshift cage in the dining room.
Investigators determined the children had been isolated from the outside world, were no longer seeing family members, attending medical appointments, or enrolled in school. Evidence showed Buskey had installed a lock on the outside of Charlotte’s bedroom door, reinforcing it after she attempted to escape. She was confined to a small pack-and-play, without adequate food or water. Medical findings later confirmed she died from severe dehydration and starvation.
Under the plea agreement, Buskey will receive the maximum sentence allowed by law, 25 years to life for the murder conviction, plus an additional two years for the drug charge, for a total sentence of 27 years to life. Sentencing is scheduled for March 27, 2026, at 9:30 a.m.
Buskey is 35-year-old and had the nickname “jitspanda.” He competed three times in MMA between 2015 and 2019, twice for Cage Wars in Schenectady, New York. He also had one kickboxing bout in 2022.
