Baby found alone in home with blanket over her face and note stuck to wall, MO cops say
A Missouri mother was arrested after police said she left her 4-month-old baby alone so she could “go score.”
An investigator doing a follow-up visit to a Joplin home on Oct. 2 called the police after hearing a baby crying inside the residence but getting no response to 45 minutes of “repeated knocking,” according to a probable cause statement.
Authorities knew from previous visits that the woman who lived there had a 4-month-old baby, court records show.
McClatchy News is not naming the woman to protect the identity of the baby. The mother is 23, according to KSNF.
After confirming that the mother’s car was gone, police called the property manager for help entering the home, which was dead-bolted from the inside, “to ensure the well-being” of the baby, police said.
Inside, officers found the baby in the bedroom “wedged between the adult-sized bed mattress and the wall” with a blanket covering her face, the probable cause statement said.
The child’s diaper was “extremely soiled,” police said, and she “appeared to be in distress.”
A handwritten note stuck to the bedroom wall read “went to go score be right back,” according to court records.
Authorities did not say how long the baby was alone.
The baby was placed in emergency custody and examined by a medical team, authorities said.
Doctors observed “patterned bruising” on the baby’s cheeks and diaper rash, court records show.
The mother was arrested Oct. 5. She faces one count of abandonment of a child and one count of endangering the welfare of a child, according to court records.
She is being held on a $5,000 bond.
Joplin is about a 155-mile drive south from Kansas City.
This story was originally published October 14, 2024 at 3:45 PM with the headline "Baby found alone in home with blanket over her face and note stuck to wall, MO cops say."
