DNA lab confirms trailer park body is Christian Choate
By Teresa Auch Schultz tauch@post-trib.com June 22, 2011 11:52AM
The state's DNA Lab has confirmed that a body found in a Black Oak trailer park in Gary is Christian Choate.
Updated: May 9, 2012 9:36AM
DNA evidence has confirmed that a body found buried under a storage shed in the Colfax Mobile Home Park in the Black Oak section of Gary is Christian Choate, according to the Lake County Coroner’s office.
Spokesman P.J. Adams said today that the Indiana State Police DNA Lab confirmed the match, which authorities had expected.
“I think we knew it was him anyway, but we had a forensic responsibility,” Adams said.
Police discovered the remains of 13-year-old Choate in May after his mother called them saying she had just disocvered he was dead. His father, Riley Lowell Choate, and stepmother, Kimberly Leona Kubina, have been charged in his death, along with battery, neglect of a dependent, obstruction of justice, removal of a body from a death scene, failure to notify authorities of the body and failure to report the body. Both have pleaded not guilty.
According to police, Choate’s family kept him chained and locked up in a dog cage and beat him, which ultimately resulted in his death sometime around March 31, 2009, and April 8, 2009. His family then buried him before moving to Kentucky and kept his death a secret for two years, according to police. The news finally came out when Choate’s sister called her mother, who had not seen her children for several years, to tell her about it.
Riley Choate’s attorney is seeking an independent autopsy.
