NEOSHO, Mo. —
An investigator testified Tuesday that 18-month-old Ada Bowman’s injuries were more severe than could be explained by the “accidents” her mother’s boyfriend acknowledged during a probe of the girl’s death.
Detective Mike Barnett of the Newton County Sheriff’s Department was the lone witness called at the preliminary hearing of Bryant L. Sykes Jr., 24, in Newton County Circuit Court.
At the conclusion of the hearing, Associate Judge Gregory Stremel ordered Sykes bound over for trial on a charge of second-degree murder in the death of the girl.
The girl died Aug. 4 at a Kansas City hospital, four days after suffering critical injuries at her family’s home in the Bykota Mobile Home Park outside Joplin.
“She died of massive trauma to both her head and torso,” Barnett told the court on direct examination by Prosecutor Jake Skouby.
The detective said that during an interview of Sykes at the sheriff’s office, the defendant described three separate incidents that had taken place in the 24 hours leading up to a 911 call for emergency medical assistance the night of July 31. Each was offered as an explanation of how the girl suffered her injuries, he said.
Barnett said Sykes told him that the first incident took place the night before the 911 call was placed. Sykes said he heard the girl crying and discovered that she had fallen out a window of their mobile home into their yard, the detective testified.
The defendant then described an incident the next day when the toddler and her siblings, ages 3 and 2, got into a bowl of dog food and made a mess, and he became angry with them. Sykes admitted picking the girl up and tossing her, Barnett said.
“She bounced off a bed and into a coffee table,” he said.
A probable-cause affidavit states that Sykes told Barnett that the girl’s abdomen began to swell, and she began acting “different.”
Barnett said a third incident that Sykes described took place a short time before the 911 call was placed. The defendant said he had set the girl on the kitchen table to help her cool off, and she had fallen and struck her head on the floor. The girl reportedly became unresponsive at that point, and Sykes told Barnett he tried to revive her.
“Did he tell you that when the child was unresponsive, he went for help?” public defender Agnes Prevendarcsik-Hoell asked the detective on cross-examination.
“He said he yelled for help,” Barnett said.
Prevendarcsik-Hoell questioned Barnett concerning who else was in the home at the time. The detective said the girl lived there with her mother, her two siblings, her maternal grandmother and Sykes, the mother’s boyfriend. The mother was asleep when Sykes said the girl fell out the window and was at the store when she fell off the table, the detective said.
Barnett said no injuries were noted on either of the other two children. The preliminary findings of an autopsy indicated that the girl’s injuries were “more severe” than any she might have suffered in the three “accidents” described by Sykes, he said.
The detective acknowledged on cross-examination that the autopsy found evidence of older bruising on the girl’s back, but he said he did not know how old those bruises were. He told the court that the mother, Gina Salazar, 22, made no admissions to investigators with respect to her daughter’s injuries.
The public defender asked if any effort was made to interview the brother and sister concerning the girl’s injuries.
“Attempts were made with the older one, but they were obviously too young to understand,” Barnett said.
Court appearance
JUDGE GREGORY STREMEL set Bryant Sykes’ initial appearance in a trial division of the court for Friday.
Top Stories
Man to stand trial in death of toddler Ada Bowman
- Top Stories
-
-
Joplin City Council to move forward on $130 million recovery proposal; curbside recycling election resurrected
Residents kept the house packed to the end of a 2 1/2-hour meeting of the Joplin City Council on Monday night to encourage the panel to resurrect some kind of curbside recycling proposal and to hear the details or support a $130 million recovery plan.
-
Board chairwoman: Bruce Speck out as MSSU president
Bruce Speck is “no longer president” of Missouri Southern State University, the Board of Governors disclosed Monday. The announcement was made late Monday afternoon following a unanimous vote taken during a closed board meeting Friday.
-
Former disaster relief worker, others indicted for fraud following Joplin tornado
A federal grand jury has indicted a former employee of the Economic Security Corp. in Joplin, her boyfriend and a third alleged conspirator in connection with the defrauding of the government via tornado relief funds. A sealed, three-count indictment was returned June 11 in U.S. District Court in Springfield against Herlana L. Latham, 31, and Christopher L. Smith, 36, both of Memphis, Tenn., and John L. Williams, 30, of Cairo, Ill. T
-
Back on the books: Reassessment numbers reflect rebuilding after 2011 tornado
Owners of nearly 8,000 properties in Jasper County have been notified that the value of real property they own has increased, and rebuilding from the Joplin tornado represents a significant share of that number. Officials in the county assessor’s office recently mailed out notices of higher property values, raised as a result of countywide reassessment.
-
Joplin to proceed with $130 million recovery plan, recycling election
The Joplin City Council on Monday night agreed to go forward with formal consideration of a $130 million recovery plan and revived a bill to hold an April vote of the people on the question of whether to institute curbside recycling.
-
Missouri Southern without president
Bruce Speck is “no longer president” of Missouri Southern State University, the Board of Governors disclosed Monday.
-
Crop-duster takes to skies again after walking away from crash
RIVERTON, Kan. — Two minutes after John “Tim” Kellogg flew over his rural Cherokee County home and waved at his wife on their porch, the oil pressure in his crop-dusting plane dropped and the engine began smoking. “I knew I was going to be on the ground in 15 to 20 seconds, and I knew it was going to be a hard landing,” he said. A former mechanic on F-16s, F-15s and F-4s for the U.S. Air Force, Kellogg, 48, had to make a split-second decision.
-
Council to hear public comments on recycling issue
A curbside recycling initiative that was defeated earlier this month will resurface tonight when several Joplin residents will ask for further consideration and two vendors will offer their services.
Representatives of two recycling businesses, one in Bentonville, Ark., and one in Tulsa, Okla., have filed requests to speak to the City Council. As of Friday morning, four residents also had submitted requests. -
Mission No. 22: Son experiences flight with father
The engines on the B-17 rumble to life one after another. The smell of smoky oil filters into the radio room through the bomb bay doors. Overhead, cables vibrate like strings on a cello. The vibration intensifies and the plane lumbers forward to the runway. Before takeoff, the pilot stops the plane and puts it at full throttle. The massive propellers rock the plane. The plane is then thrust down the runway for a takeoff that is as smooth as silk.
-
Contractor indicted for dumping gasoline in Duenweg’s sewer system
A federal grand jury has charged a hazardous materials handling company and two of its employees with dumping gasoline-contaminated water into Duenweg’s sewer system. A two count indictment was handed up this past week in U.S. District Court in Springfield against Seneca Companies Inc., of Des Moines, Iowa, and employees Robert Morrison, 31, and Greg Gill, 50.
- More Top Stories Headlines
-
Man Who Disrupted Flight Ranted About CIA
Feds: 7-Eleven Stores Exploited Immigrants
Fla. Teen Catches Ride With Whale Shark
G8 Leaders Huddle on Syria
Raw: Obama, Putin Meet at G8
Iran's Rowhani Urges 'Path of Moderation'
Daughter: Mandela Doing 'Very Well'
Investigators Probe Origin of Colo. Wildfire
Ex-NFL Star Chad Johnson Out of Jail
'Game of Thrones' Boosts N. Ireland
Raw: Prince Philip Leaves Hospital After Surgery
Zimmerman Jury Selection Turns to Media Exposure
Raw: FBI Meets Plane After Poison Threat
Family Tweets Say Kim Kardashian Gives Birth
US, EU Leaders Announce Free Trade Talks
