Mo. Parents charged in son's starvation death
Jan 24 5:39 PM
KANSAS CITY, Mo.- Murder charges have been filed against the parents of a 4-month-old boy who weighed barely over 5 pounds when he starved to death last year.
Prosecutors on Saturday charged 27-year-old Nicholas Candler and 30-year-old Rebecca Candler with second-degree murder and endangering the welfare of a child. Their son, Jeremiah Candler, was pronounced dead at a hospital on Nov. 18. At 5.34 pounds, he weighed less at death than he did when he was born at 5 pounds, 12 ounces.
Police say that when they asked Candler at the hospital how the baby died, Candler told them that, "He probably starved to death."
The Kansas City Star reported on its Web site that court records released Saturday indicate the couple never took the baby for a single checkup after he was born.
January 28th 08:20 AM
4-Month-Old Starves To Death In Kansas City
Baby's Parents Could Be Charged, Police Say
January 7
A four-month starved to death could be charged in Jackson County Court, Kansas City police said.
Jeremiah Candler died from chronic malnutrition and dehydration due to child neglect, according to the Jackson County Medical Examiner's office.
The baby was taken Nov. 18 to Children's Mercy Hospital, where he was pronounced dead.
The baby weighed about 5 pounds. A typical 4-month-old should weigh about 13 to 16 pounds.
Police immediately interviewed the parents and were waiting for the medical examiner's report.
The medical examiner's office ruled the death a homicide on Monday, making his death the first homicide of the year in Kansas City.
Police hadn't arrested the parents by Wednesday afternoon, and the prosecutor was still reviewing the case so no charges had been filed.
"I'm just sickened by it, " said Debbie Cassady, the family's neighbor.
She remembered the day in November when she saw the parents race to the hospital with their son, she said.
"They both ran out and they were both just freaking out, like in a panic, and they like got the little baby in the carrier seat and they like just tossed it in the back seat, " Cassady said.
Police immediately interviewed the parents and were waiting for the medical examiner's report.
"A poor little baby that can't even speak or do anything for itself and it just, I'm incensed about it, and they ought to be held responsible, " Cassady said.
Neighbors said the family was very spiritual. A large purple cross decorates their front lawn.
The couple was very private, said neighbor Gene Lundy.
"Spiritual people are just as apt to commit a crime or do something wrong as anybody else, " Lundy said.
Police: 4-Month-Old Died From Starvation
Jeremiah Candler Died Nov. 18
POSTED: 3:34 pm CST January 7
UPDATED: 10:21 pm CST January 7
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — The death of a 4-month-old boy in November has been ruled a homicide, police said Wednesday.
Jeremiah Candler died Nov. 18.investigators were called to St. Joseph Medical Center after the baby was pronounced dead.
The cause of death was listed as "chronic malnutrition and dehydration due to child neglect, " according to police Capt. Rich Lockhart.
Police said Jeremiah weighed about 5 pounds at birth on June 25 and weighed less than that when he died.
"You have to go a long period of time without feeding a child before there's death involved. Obviously, the age of the child factored into all of this, but this is a very unusual case, " Lockhart said.
Lockhart said the pictures in the case are so disturbing that even veteran officers couldn't bear to look at them.
"Most of these officers have children of their own, and when you see a child who's been neglected like this, it's very, very troubling, " Lockhart told KMBC's Jim Flink.
Jeanetta Issa, with the Child Abuse Prevention Association, said not all cases of child abuse are easily recognizable, especially when it comes to infants and toddlers, who often don't have playmates.
Issa said not all cases of abuse are intentional.
"Some of it is a lack of knowledge. I know a lot of abuse occurs when parents themselves don't have an adequate understanding of what a child needs at each developmental stage, " Issa said.
Detectives gave a file on the case to prosecutors, who are considering whether to charge someone in the death.
No one responded when KMBC tried to contact Jeremiah's parents at their home on Poplar Avenue.
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