BECKY ATKISON - 6 months (1/2014)/ Charged: Mother; DeShelle Atkison - Independence MO

Independence police investigating baby's death

Posted: Jan 31, 2014 4:40 PM CST
Updated: Mar 02, 2014 4:40 PM CST
By Laura McCallister, Multimedia Producer - email


INDEPENDENCE, MO (KCTV) -  Police are investigating a baby's death.

Independence police said officers and medical personnel were called to the 800 block of South Park Avenue Friday afternoon after a 6-month-old infant was not breathing.

The cause of death is unknown at this time. Police said this is an ongoing investigation and detectives are awaiting medical examination results.

http://www.kctv5.com/story/24604406/independence-police-investigating-babys-death

Independence mom implicated in her six-month-old girl’s death

POSTED 10:59 PM, MAY 9, 2014
BY MACRADEE AEGERTER

INDEPENDENCE, Mo. — A 31-year-old Independence woman in behind bars Friday and charged in the death of her six-month-old daughter.

DeShelle Atkison is charged in Jackson County with abuse or neglect of a child – resulting in death and endangering the welfare of a child.

According to prosecutors the baby girl, Betsy Atkison, died on January 31st. Independence police were called to the home on the report of a non-breathing infant. According to court documents, police arriving on scene found the infant dead in conditions they deemed unfit for living.

In a probable cause statement a detective details the conditions of the baby’s room as “filthy, with bags of trash leaking on the floor” and “evidence of rats in the child’s room and in the kitchen.”

Police also describe the infant as thin, her rib bones showing through her skin and laying on stained sheets. According to court documents the girl’s mother, DeShelle, admitted to police Betsy had been sick, wheezing and coughing frequently.

The girl’s mother also admitted in the last four days before Betsy died, she had only fed the girl six ounces of formula and three-to-four bites of baby food a day.

A neighbor of Atkison told FOX 4: “That’s just the fact. You should have gotten your kid help, you didn’t so you’re going to be charged with the murder case because you didn’t go get your kid help?”

The Jackson County Medical Examiner declared the girl’s death a homicide on March 31st. Friday afternoon the Jackson County Prosecutor’s Office filed charges and Independence police arrested Atkison at her home.

According to court documents, police removed the other four of Atkison’s children from the home the day the girl died because of its unsanitary conditions. Atkison remains in jail on a $100,000 bond and is not to have contact with children under the age of 17.

http://fox4kc.com/2014/05/09/independence-mom-implicated-in-her-six-month-old-girls-death/

Mom Arrested After Sick Baby Starves To Death: Police

The Huffington Post  | By Andres Jauregui
Posted: 05/13/2014 11:49 am EDT
Updated: 05/14/2014 11:59 am EDT


Deshelle Atkison (right) and baby Betsy Atkison (left)

A Missouri woman has been accused in the starvation death of her 6-month-old daughter.

Deshelle Atkison, 31, was charged Friday with abuse that resulted in the death of a child and first-degree child endangerment, according to KCTV. Atkison has four other children, ages 5 to 13, according to the station.

Medical examiners say that while the immediate cause of death was pneumonia, it was severe neglect that led to that illness. The Kansas City Star reports that the death has been ruled a homicide.

Investigators said that the infant, named Betsy, died Jan. 31 at home in Independence. Family members called 911 after the little girl stopped breathing, but it was too late to save her.

Responders said the girl had dirty fingers and toes, and that there were rat droppings in the room where her crib was. Court documents described the child "very thin with rib bones showing through the skin."

An autopsy completed in March said that the infant had suffered from severe malnutrition and pneumonia when she died.

Atkison told police she knew the baby was sick, but that she was afraid to go to a doctor because she thought she would lose custody to her boyfriend, Betsy's father.

Fox 4 Kansas City reports:

The girl’s mother also admitted in the last four days before Betsy died, she had only fed the girl six ounces of formula and three-to-four bites of baby food a day.

Neighbors were outraged by the death.

“You should have gotten your kid help. You didn’t, so you’re going to be charged," neighbor Loren Barnes told the station. "That baby didn't get to experience life because of her mother's decision."

Atkison's other children were moved to another residence during the investigation, and are now in the hands of state social workers, KCTV reports.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/05/13/deshelle-atkison-sick-baby-starves_n_5316245.html