Legal•Info

Missouri Man Arraigned in Incest-Murder Case

Posted: Monday, April 13th, 2009 at 3:55 pm

A man accused of raping and fathering four children with his teenage daughter was arraigned Monday on second-degree murder, child endangerment and other charges involving three of the children.

The 47-year-old man, whose identity is being kept secret in order to protect the identity of his daughter, was ordered to remain in custody on a $500,000 bond. The daughter’s identity is being withheld because she is an alleged sexual assault victim. The man’s public defender, Janeal Matheson, entered a plea of not guilty on behalf of her client. Matheson did not make a statement during the hearing, nor she did respond when asked on Monday for a quote.

Prosecutors say the man had been having sex with his now 19-year-old daughter since she was 13, and impregnated her four times. Only one of the children remains alive.

Two of the babies’ bodies were found in January in coolers near the family’s rural property in Harrisonville. Authorities say one of the babies died in February 2007, and had shown signs of pneumonia, in which treatment had been neglected.

Although the father is charged with one of the infant’s deaths, no charges have been filed in the other death.

Authorities disinterred the body of a third infant last month near Dustin, Oklahoma, where the family had lived for a short time.

Oklahoma authorities are investigating the death but have not filed charges yet.

The surviving 3-year-old boy is in state custody, said Missouri prosecutors.

The man is charged with eight felonies: one count each of second-degree murder and statutory rape, and two counts each of endangering the welfare of a child, incest and accessory abandonment of a corpse.

His 47-year-old wife is charged with two counts of endangering the welfare of a child and one count of hindering prosecution, but is free on a $10,000 bond

If found guilty on all charges, the man could be sentenced to life in prison with an additional 37 years.

 

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