Toddler’s death ruled homicide

September 05, 2008 09:24 pm

— By Jeff Lehr
jlehr@joplinglobe.com
The Jasper County coroner has ruled the death of a 2-year-old boy, brought late Tuesday morning to a Joplin urgent-care clinic unconscious and not breathing, a case of homicide.
Coroner Jerry Neil and Joplin police are declining comment on the cause of the death of Kyler DeShawn Jones. But the coroner’s ruling means investigators do not believe the death was either natural or accidental.
Lt. Brian Lewis of the Joplin Police Department indicated Friday that preliminary findings of an autopsy conducted on the child’s body in Springfield were less than conclusive with regard to cause of death.
“We haven’t got the information we usually get,” Lewis told the Globe.
Lewis said investigators are awaiting further results of the autopsy while continuing to interview witnesses and family members of the child.
“At this point, there aren’t any charges being sought,” he said. “It’s still at the preliminary stages of the investigation.”
The boy was brought in at 11:03 a.m. Tuesday to St. John’s Express Care, 1313 S. Range Line Road. He was transported by ambulance to the emergency room of St. John’s Regional Medical Center in Joplin, where he was pronounced dead at 11:17 a.m.
The child’s parents have been identified as Terry Miller and Meagan Jones, ages not available. Lewis said the child’s name was not released until Friday because the father lives out of state and authorities had some difficulties notifying him. He said the father has come to Joplin in the wake of his son’s death.
Neither Jones, who lives in Joplin, nor Miller could be reached for comment.
Lewis said the boy was not in Jones’ care immediately prior to being brought to the clinic. She had left the child in the care of a Joplin couple, he said. Lewis declined to identify the couple Friday but indicated that one of them brought the boy to the clinic.
Lewis acknowledged that the child had some bruising but would not say where on his body. He said investigators remain uncertain at this point if that bruising is relevant in any manner to the child’s cause of death.

Services
Graveside services for the child are planned for 11 a.m. today at Osborne Memorial Cemetery. The family will receive friends beginning at 10 a.m. today at Mason-Woodard Mortuary in Joplin.