By Jeff Lehr
jlehr@joplinglobe.com
The Jasper County prosecutor said Tuesday that he will await preliminary findings of an autopsy before deciding whether a Carthage father is to be charged in the death of his 8-month-old son.
Eddie A. Salazar, 29, is accused of making a false report to police that the baby boy was abducted by two masked men who broke into their home Thursday night. Investigators found the body of the baby, also named Eddie Salazar, on Saturday in Spring River east of Carthage after the father reportedly admitted that he had fabricated the kidnapping story.
The father remained in jail Tuesday on $100,000 bond. He has been named by investigators as the “only” suspect in his son’s death.
Salazar is scheduled to be arraigned Thursday morning in Jasper County Circuit Court in Joplin on the misdemeanor charge of making a false report. Court officials said Tuesday that the arraignment may be accomplished through a videoconference with the jail in Carthage.
Prosecutor Dean Dankelson said he does not anticipate filing any more charges against the father before the Boone County medical examiner, who performed an autopsy Monday, releases preliminary findings.
The medical examiner has yet to specify a cause of death in the case. He has informed investigators that he wants to conduct additional tests, which could take up to two weeks.
Dankelson said he will not be prepared to file charges until he knows what the medical evidence is concerning the manner and cause of death.
“We’re waiting on more details from the autopsy,” Dankelson said.
Investigators have yet to say what the father told them after reportedly admitting sometime Friday night that the abduction story was false. They also have not said whether anything he told them helped authorities find the child’s body in the river.
Funeral arrangements for baby Eddie Salazar are being handled by Ulmer Funeral Home in Carthage. Those arrangements had yet to be announced late in the day Tuesday.
The apparent manner of the baby’s death has shaken many in the community of Carthage and the Joplin area. Some measure of an outpouring of sympathy for the child can be gauged from the large number of people leaving comments on a memorial page for baby Eddie that was set up by someone on the popular Web site Facebook.
“I didn’t know him, but, for some reason, I can’t stop thinking about him,” a woman wrote on the page. “My insides are torn up and have been since I heard about him being found in a river.”
Carthage, Jasper County
<img src="http://www.joplinglobeonline.com/images/zope/extra.gif" border="0">Father to be arraigned on misdemeanor charge<font color="#ff0000"> w/ Eddie Salazar Facebook memorial</font>
- Carthage, Jasper County
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Carthage attorney, reformer of revenue department, dies
James R. Spradling, a Carthage attorney who was noted for his reform of the Missouri Department of Revenue in the 1970s, died at 5:50 a.m. Monday at McCune-Brooks Regional Hospital.
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Bondswoman charged with false imprisonment
A bail bondswoman from Carthage is facing a charge of false imprisonment for allegedly attempting to put a man in jail without a judge’s order, then taking him home and handcuffing him to the banister of a staircase until a friend of the man paid her his bond money.
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Man’s last statement to be given to defendant
A judge ruled Monday that the Jasper County prosecutor must provide attorneys for Darren J. Winans with a videotaped statement co-defendant Matthew D. Laurin made about the Sheldon murders shortly before killing himself.
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Carthage proposes 1.6-cent rise in city property tax
A drop in the assessed value of Carthage real estate will translate to an increase of about 1.6 cents in the city’s proposed property tax rate.
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Open house to celebrate projects at courthouse
Projects completed last year at the Jasper County Courthouse will be celebrated in ceremonies Thursday in the courthouse lobby.
County officials will join representatives of local chambers of commerce and others for a ribbon-cutting and open house to mark the opening of a Route 66 display in the lobby and a new “peace star” atop the building. -
State budget cuts reduce county funds
County officials are bracing for more state budget cuts to translate into a loss of county revenues.
In an effort to balance Missouri’s budget, the state earlier this year cut the amount it reimburses county assessors for work to determine property values. The budget approved by lawmakers for fiscal 2011 calls for cutting the amount the state reimburses counties to house prisoners bound for state lockup. -
Jo Ellis: County home to rare yellowwood tree
In late spring, drifts as white as snow fill the gutters and curbs on the east side of the Jasper County Courthouse. It isn’t snow, of course; it’s the fallen petals of the yellowwood tree that grows squarely in front of the door to the Jasper County Extension office.
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Jasper County Commission gets building project update
Plans to close out one building project and start another were reviewed by the Jasper County Commission last week.
Darieus Adams, Western District associate commissioner, met Thursday with officials of the firm who designed a $292,400 project to upgrade the lighting and make other changes to make four county-owned buildings more energy efficient. -
Two men running for associate judge in 39th Circuit take case to court
Two men running for associate judge in Missouri’s 39th Circuit began battling it out in a Jasper County courtroom this week.
Jasper County Circuit Judge Gayle Crane heard arguments Wednesday concerning the disclosure of documents sought by Robert “Bobby” George, Aurora, the current Lawrence County prosecutor. -
Unveiling ceremony celebrates CHS tiger
Kandy Frazier, Carthage High School principal, summed it up once the new addition to the CHS campus was unveiled Thursday.
The bronze tiger sculpture created by Carthage artist and sculptor Bob Tommey, she said, is the kind of work that would be found at a big university. - More Carthage, Jasper County Headlines
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