Albany

A Family Court judge said on Tuesday that two sisters of Kenneth White, the 5-year-old boy found dead in a roadside snowbank in Knox, had bruises on them at the time of their brother's death.

Judge Gerard Maney used the disclosure to explain why he has denied supervised visits by the children's aunt, Brenda VanAlstyne, whose 20-year-old daughter, Tiffany, is charged with killing Kenneth and dumping his body just before Christmas.

Brenda VanAlstyne had been taking care of three of her sister's five children since last summer, with Tiffany doing much of the caretaking. Since the kindergartner's death, his two sisters have been living in foster care.

Albany County has abuse and neglect petitions filed against Tiffany and Brenda VanAlstyne, with a trial on the accusations scheduled for March 25 and 26. Tiffany VanAlstyne, who is being held without bail at Albany County jail on a charge of second-degree murder, will be present for the Family Court trial.

Maney reiterated details about the case, such as that even though Brenda VanAlstyne knew her daughter suffers from mental health issues and was not taking her medications, she was still allowed to babysit the children.

"There are allegations that a medical examination showed that the surviving children had bruising on their bodies allegedly inflicted by Tiffany VanAlstyne or Brenda VanAlstyne," Maney said in court. "There still remains imminent risk to the surviving children."

Brenda VanAlstyne declined to comment after court.

Other details in the case were revealed on Tuesday, including that the Albany County Department for Children, Youth and Families will file neglect petitions against Kenneth White's parents, Christine VanAlstyne White and Jayson White.

At the hearing, James Green, an Albany County attorney, said the county had trouble obtaining child protective information from Montgomery County and Berkshire County in Massachusetts, where the parents live. The counties responded with some information on Tuesday morning, Green said, and the neglect petitions will be served on the parents shortly.

Brenda VanAlstyne previously told the Times Union that she took in her nephew and nieces because the house where they were living in Amsterdam was fouled by dog excrement and urine, and that their parents fought constantly. Her trailer on Thacher Park Road in Knox is small, and Kenneth slept in a La-Z-Boy recliner inches away from Tiffany VanAlstyne in her room. Kenneth's 4-year-old sister slept on sleeping bags on the floor of the same bedroom, with the 5-year-old sister in a toddler bed in her aunt's bedroom.

Brenda VanAlstyne has said Albany County Child Protective personnel visited her trailer home three times, and that Maney granted custody of the three children to VanAlstyne sometime before school started in September.

On Tuesday, Albany County's attorney also said the parents have not shown up for scheduled visits with the two daughters, and they had no contact information for the father.

Leah Walker Casey, Jayson White's attorney, said she would provide his new address — but out of earshot of media in the courtroom. "There has been significant pressure on him from the media, pressure which, quite frankly, is a burden to him," Casey said.

Casey also confirmed court proceedings in Massachusetts involving the removal of two of Kenneth's older siblings from Jayson White. She said she did know why.

Jayson White's mother, Mary Rotgers, the girls' grandmother, filed a petition for custody from her home in California. Her petition was thrown out because it wasn't filed properly — and because Rotgers has a history with child protective services, Green said. Albany County is investigating the possibility of a great-aunt, Michelle Sweet, getting custody of the girls.

"The children have been bounced around a lot in a short period of time," Green said. "So we want to ensure any decision we advocate will be in the children's best interest."

lstanforth@timesunion.com • 518-454-5697