A 30-year-old father and a 28-year-old mother in Missouri have been arrested in connection with the death of their 3-year-old boy, who fell out the window of their eighth-floor apartment building earlier this week. Moses Lee Bass and Destiny Leeann Randle were arrested on Monday and charged with one count each of first-degree felony endangering the welfare of a child, authorities said.
According to court filings, officers from the Independence, Missouri Police Department responded to a complaint on Monday at 10:06 a.m. about a youngster in need of medical attention at the Independence Towers on the 700 block of N. Jennings Road. The individual who contacted 911 informed the dispatcher that a newborn appeared to have “fallen from above her apartment, on the fourth floor, to the ground below.”
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Once there, first responders discovered the youngster and began performing life-saving measures. The boy was naked, with a diaper nearby and various children’s toys thrown around the pavement.
The guy was transferred to a hospital and died shortly after noon.
Police contacted Bass, who stated that he had left the apartment to walk the dog at around 10 a.m. and was speaking with the building management when he noticed emergency medical professionals and fire vehicles. When he noticed that they were treating a child, he summoned Randle, who was upstairs with the other three children and asked her to check on them.
When Randle entered the children’s room, he saw “the window open and unsecured, and [the victim] was missing,” prosecutors stated.
“Randle claimed that the window in the children’s room had a rip in the screen and was unable to lock correctly. She indicated that she and I1 regularly fasten the window with a blue pole that was supposed to be on the windowsill at the time,” according to the criminal complaint. “Randle reported that she has attempted several times to get building management to fix the window and stated the window has been in that condition since they moved in approximately 1 year ago in June of 2023.”
The parents later clarified that the blue pole would be placed in the window track, preventing it from sliding open.
Randle allegedly informed police that one of the other three children admitted to opening the window while they were in the room alone.
Authorities described the home’s state as awful, with “trash piled up everywhere.”
“All the beds in the children’s rooms were covered in old dirt and did not have any sheets on them,” according to the lawsuit. “Old used diapers were also discovered in the children’s room, with no place to store them. The children’s room smelled strongly of urine. There was a child safety doorknob cover on the interior of the room where the children sleep.”
The witness who called 911 informed authorities that she “consistently” saw children’s toys fall past her window from above, “within the trajectory of the apartment where [the victim] fell.” She stated that the toys falling outside her window had been happening “frequently” for roughly eight months.
One of the other kids in the house, who had noticeable wounds on his arms and legs, informed investigators that Randle and Bass had recently “hurt him with an object they call Mr. Blacky.” He subsequently showed officials a drawing of a “black whip or belt-like object.”
While executing a search request on the house, Bass allegedly informed authorities that “Mr. Blacky” was a belt, while Randle allegedly stated that they used it to “whoop the kids.”
According to Law and crime, the parents were aware that their children may escape through the window as early as December 2023. They also confirmed that neighbors and building management had often alerted them that the children were tossing toys out the window.
Randle allegedly indicated that, while she and Bass had gotten “complacent” recently, she had been “concerned from day one that one of her children would fall out the window.”
Randle and Bas are being jailed in Jackson County Jail on a $100,000 bond. They made their initial court appearance on Wednesday afternoon.