Buried baby? Investigation underway - Leflore Cty/ Poteau/ Tulsa OK

Authorities in far eastern Oklahoma say they are searching for a
baby girl's body after two people were arrested on multiple charges of
child abuse and endangerment.Leflore County District Attorney
Jeff Smith said Friday that investigators are looking for a body at the
rural property outside of Poteau, but declined to comment specifically
on the case.
An application for exhumation of a body filed Tuesday
by Smith's office alleges that one of nine siblings taken into
emergency custody by the state told investigators of alleged abuse by
their father.
One of the siblings also told police she had a baby
at home in 2010, delivered by her father. The girl told authorities the
father allegedly buried the baby on the property, "in the woods behind
the goat pen."
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Investigators
plan to scour a vast patch of land in rural eastern Oklahoma this
weekend in search of the body of a baby born to a young girl whose
parents were arrested on child abuse charges.The
girl told authorities her father helped her deliver the child at home,
told her it was dead and buried it behind a goat pen. Goats and cows
mulled about the property Friday while officials used a backhoe to dig
for answers.
LeFlore County District Attorney Jeff Smith
said investigators were looking for the infant girl's body at the vast
property outside of Poteau, a town of about 8,500 located about 10 miles
from the Arkansas state line. He declined to comment further on the
details of the case.
The
girl's parents, who were taken into custody Tuesday in a grocery store
parking lot near Mena, Ark., were arrested on multiple charges of child
abuse and endangerment. An application for exhumation of a body filed by
Smith's office alleges that one of the nine siblings taken into
emergency custody by the state because of "extreme physical and
educational neglect" told investigators she and her younger sibling had
been sexually abused by their father.
The husband and wife were being held Friday in the LeFlore County Detention Center
on $275,000 bond and are awaiting a court date, which Smith said would
likely be next week. Smith said he was not aware if either had an
attorney, and court records did not indicate that they did.
"All
I can say is our investigation is ongoing," Smith said. "This appears
to be a very serious matter and could possibly be a very
complicated matter."
The
Associated Press is withholding the names of the parents so as not to
identify the children, because the AP does not generally identify the
victims of alleged sexual abuse.
One
of the siblings told police that she had a baby at home in August 2010
that was delivered by her father. She told authorities she thought a boy
she met at camp may have been the baby's father, according to the
exhumation request. The girl told authorities that the child did not cry
and that her father told her it was dead. The baby was given a name and
then the girl's father buried it on the property "in the woods behind
the goat pen."
The
exhumation report also said a check of records in Oklahoma indicated
that neither the child's birth nor death was reported to the state, as
is required.
By
Friday afternoon, the country road leading to the home was cordoned
off. A black tarp shrouded the area where investigators were working.
The
tiny wooden home on the property is run-down and the land around it is
covered with stuff: an old camper, farm machinery, stacks of firewood
and a couple of boats. A sign on the metal gate outside the house warned
passers-by to keep out. Piles of dirt were unearthed in a nearby
pasture, but it wasn't clear whether investigators dug them up during
the search.
A sign along the nearby road cautioned motorists to slow down because of children at play.
Court
documents from Kansas show that the father arrested this week was
charged with aggravated incest nearly two decades ago. In the 1993 court
filing, Montgomery County prosecutors charged that the man "willfully,
wrongfully, unlawfully and feloniously engage(d) in an unlawful sex act"
with his 8-year-old daughter. The girl's mother, who divorced the man
and is not the woman arrested this week, is listed on the court filing
as a witness.
The charges were dismissed several months after they were filed. Court records don't cite a reason and Roger Gossard, the attorney who represented the man in the Kansas case, said he didn't remember why the case was dismissed.
"I don't recall the facts of the case," said Gossard, who is now a district judge in Coffeyville, Kan.
A woman who answered the phone at a number listed for the man's ex-wife declined to comment Friday.

Read more: http://www.timesunion.com/news/article/Okla-officials-continue-search-for-infant-s-body-2253380.php#ixzz1cwJjOIZ3