Charges filed in Independence Towers child death
INDEPENDENCE, Mo. — Prosecutors filed charges in connection with the Independence Towers child death against the victim’s dad and his girlfriend.
Moses Lee Bass Jr., 30, and Destiny Randle, 28, are charged with child endangerment resulting in the death of a child. On Monday, a 3-year-old boy died after falling from a 9-story apartment window.
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According to a probable cause statement, police identified Bass as the 3-year-old’s father and interviewed him. Bass told investigators he left his other three children with his girlfriend, in their shared apartment on an upper floor.
Bass told investigators he walked downstairs to take the dog out at approximately 10 a.m. Monday. He said he was talking to the building manager when he noticed emergency and fire crews arrive outside the building.
Court papers say Bass then called Randle to have her check on the other children, after seeing a child being evaluated by IFD.
Police also contacted Randle, who said the last time she checked on the children was at 11 p.m. the day prior.
Randle said the children were all supposed to be asleep until the parents came out of the bedroom in the morning. She said she woke up at 10 a.m. and did not hear any noises coming from the other bedroom.
Randle said she knew the window in the children’s room had a rip in the screen and did not properly lock. Randle said Bass usually secured the window with a blue pole that was
supposed to be in the window at the time.
Randle reported that when she checked on the children and noticed the window open and unsecured, and a child was missing.
Randle said she has attempted several times to get building management to fix the window and stated the window has been in that condition since they moved in about a year ago.
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Officers checked the children’s bedroom and did not see the blue pole that Randle described
anywhere in the bedroom.
According to court documents, the residence had trash piled up everywhere, specifically in the kitchen, which had huge piles of trash built up in a shopping cart.
All the beds in the children’s rooms were covered in old dirt and did not have any sheets on them. Old, used diapers were also found in the children’s room with no trash can to hold them. The children’s room specifically smelled of urine.
There was also a child safety doorknob cover on the doorknob on the inside of the room the children sleep in. There were similar doorknob covers on the inside doorknob to the main door and the outside doorknob leading into the bathroom.
A witness reported to police she consistently saw toys thrown down past her window that were within the path where the child fell. The witness said this had been happening for around 8 months.
All of the other children in the apartment were placed in state custody with Jackson County Children’s Division.
Independence investigators obtained a search warrant and arrested Bass and Randle, who were taken to police headquarters and interviewed.
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Court documents say Bass told investigators that he and Randle knew about the safety hazards of the window. He said they have known about them since June 2023. He said he also knew that the children were able to bypass the locks and get out of the window since December 2023.
Bass revealed that he knew one of the children was able to remove the bar due to children throwing toys out of the window. He said neighbors and maintenance brought it to his attention multiple times.
Randle stated she also knew about the safety hazards of the windows and still allowed the children to stay in the room for long periods of time unattended, according to court documents.
She said she had become complacent and overlooked it. Randle stated she was concerned from day one that one of her children would fall out the window.
While both Bass and Randle face the same charge and are in the Jackson County Jail, online court records only show Bass’ case right now, where he’s held on a $100,000 bond. Both are due in court for their first appearances on Wednesday afternoon.
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