Soren, 5, endured ‘living hell’ of abuse; Lancaster couple go to prison for her death

Soren Chilson would have turned 9 years old on Jan. 31. She never made it because she was beaten to death in 2013.

Her mother, who covered up the abuse in Lancaster County in late 2012 and early 2013, and her mother’s boyfriend, who beat Soren, were sentenced to prison Monday.

Phillip Bryan Gleason, an Iraq War veteran who crushed Soren’s skull, admitted to almost continual beatings of the girl for weeks before she died in March 2013. He was sentenced to 38 years in prison after pleading guilty to voluntary manslaughter and child neglect.

Vickie Gleason -- the couple married after the abuse, had a child and are pregnant now with a second -- was sentenced to 18 years for failing to do anything about the abuse, and trying to cover it up. Vickie Gleason pleaded guilty in December to three counts of child neglect.

Vickie Gleason pleaded for probation Monday, saying in court, “I am not a monster.”

“Soren was the joy of my life,” Vickie Gleason said. “She will always be on my mind...I know she is in heaven.”

Phillip Gleason said little in court Monday, except to finally admit that he abused Soren, after denying it since his arrest in 2013.

“I take responsibility for my actions,” Phillip Gleason told Judge Brian Gibbons in the Lancaster County Courthouse.

Yet Phillip Gleason’s lawyer, Chris Wellborn, said Gleason suffered traumatic brain injury and post traumatic stress disorder after a 2006 combat wound in Iraq.

Randy Newman, 6th Circuit Solicitor, balked at the war as a reason for months of abuse.

“For him to stand there and blame it on the war and PTSD, it’s a slap in the face to every veteran,” Newman said.

Prosecutors presented weeks of 2012 and 2013 text messages and other evidence that showed the couple knew about the abuse, but continued to allow Phillip Gleason to babysit Soren while her mother was working nights at a nursing home. The text messages showed the pattern of abuse and cover-up, buying bruise cream to hide wounds and failing to take Soren for medical attention despite her being bruised from head to toe and having a broken collarbone that was never treated, Newman and Deputy Solicitor Lisa Collins said.

The test messages included Vickie Gleason saying she was close to committing “Soren-cide” after her daughter had behavior problems, and threatening to “tear her @#$% out of the frame” with a beating.

Gleason took pictures and videos of Soren screaming and injured, trying to justify his behavior from late 2012 through her death.

“She will suffer my rules,” one text said. Another said; “I just knocked the @#$% out of her.”

When Soren was taken to the hospital in 2013, unconscious from the fatal beating, neither Phillip Gleason nor Vickie Gleason expressed remorse, testimony showed.

“Soren’s life was stolen from her,” said Donald Chilson, Soren’s paternal grandfather.

A deputy who was one of the first responders, Charles Campbell, cried in court as he spoke of the bruises and beatings.

“Soren endured a living hell,” Campbell said. “I held her hand as she passed away.”

This story was originally published January 30, 2017 at 3:44 PM with the headline "Soren, 5, endured ‘living hell’ of abuse; Lancaster couple go to prison for her death."