ADDISON ROSE WALLER - 3 months (2013)/ Charged: Mother's BF: Jason Michael Moore - Sanford NC

Baby sitter charged with 1st-degree murder in death of 3-month-old (updated)
Infant Addison Rose Waller

By Lauren Baheri
Published: Friday, August 30, 2013 at 15:17 PM.


Jason Moore

A 30-year-old man faces a first-degree murder charge in the death of a 3-month-old girl he was baby-sitting. Jason Michael Moore of Sanford was charged Friday with first-degree murder in the death of the baby girl, Addison Rose Waller.

The infant suffered a fractured skull and burns to the feet and legs, according to arrest warrants. She died after being removed from life support earlier this month. Investigators have been told Moore was the boyfriend of the child’s mother, Jessica Waller, although she said the two were just friends. Moore was not the child’s father.

Waller has cooperated with the investigation, District Attorney Locke Bell said, and does not face any charges. But this type of case affects prosecutors and investigators, Bell said.

“I can not say what I feel in my gut about this case. I’m not allowed to,” Bell said Friday. “It is always very painful when you see a child who has been hurt and even more so when a child has died.”

The mother of the child, Jessica Waller, said she still doesn’t know what happened to her baby. “I have no idea,” she said Friday. When Jessica Waller came home from work, she said her baby, Addison, first felt like she might have had a fever. “I thought maybe I had put too many blankets over her and overheated her,” she said.

But when Addison started feeling cold, Jessica Waller took her to the hospital. At 8:21 p.m. on Aug. 13, Gaston County Police received a call from the Kings Mountain Hospital about an abused 3-month-old girl. Lowell and Gaston County police launched an investigation with the help of social workers.

The baby was transferred to Levine Children’s Hospital in Charlotte for treatment of her skull fracture. She died Aug. 17. “This has been an extensive investigation on our part,” Lowell Police Capt. S. Bates said. “Because of the severity of the charges we don’t want to give out anymore details.”

Jessica Waller said she’s unsure what to think of the charges leveled against Moore. Investigators have been told that Waller and Moore knew each other from around Sanford, where Moore had lived, Bell said. Moore would baby-sit Addison while her mother worked, Bell said.

Waller said when Moore baby-sat for her in the past everything was fine. “Nothing makes sense,” she said. Waller said she was working on getting her 3-month-old daughter enrolled in a day care. With two other children — a 4-year-old and a 6-year-old — she’s trying to stay strong. “I’m holding up as best as I can,” she said.

Moore also faces two counts of felony child abuse in the case. He was booked into Gaston County Jail Friday. During a first court appearance later Friday, District Court Judge Pennie Thrower ordered him held without bond. Moore’s family members in Sanford declined to comment on the charges against him.

Moore has a criminal past. He was convicted of larceny and other property crimes in Chatham and Wake counties in 2009. In both cases, a judge sentenced him to probation.

The baby’s funeral service was held at a Church of God in Cameron last Saturday. A funeral home in Sanford handled the arrangements.

http://www.gastongazette.com/spotlight/baby-sitter-charged-with-1st-degree-murder-in-death-of-3-month-old-updated-1.195357