Father, girlfriend charged in death of child who fell from 8-story Independence apartment

A father and his girlfriend have been charged in the death of a 3-year-old child who fell from an eighth-story apartment window at an Independence high-rise on Monday, prosecutors announced Wednesday.

Jackson County prosecutors charged 30-year-old Moses Lee Bass and 28-year-old Destiny Leeann Randle each with a felony count of first-degree endangering the welfare of a child, according to a news release. Prosecutors allege the father and his girlfriend failed to protect the toddler from substantial risk, resulting in the death of the child, who has not been identified.

They were held in Jackson County jail on a $100,000 bond. They were scheduled to make their first court appearance Wednesday afternoon.

The child fell from the window sometime before 10:05 a.m. Monday at Independence Towers, 728 N. Jennings Road, according to Battalion Chief Eric Michel of the Independence Fire Department.

Firefighters found the child lying in the grass outside the building, unconscious but breathing, Michel said. The boy was rushed to a local hospital and immediately transferred to Children’s Mercy Hospital in Kansas City. The child was pronounced dead at 12:46 p.m. at the hospital.

Two other children in the apartment at the time of the fall were placed in the custody of Jackson County’s Children’s Division.

Child fell from apartment above

According to court documents, officers responded shortly after 10 a.m. to the apartment tower regarding a medical call involving a child. While en route, dispatchers told officers the caller in a fourth-floor apartment said an infant appeared to have fallen from the apartment above hers to the ground below.

By the time officers arrived, firefighters were rendering medical aid to the child, who was found on the ground at the southwest corner of the building. The boy was naked, but a diaper was on the ground next to him. According to court documents, children’s toys were scattered on the ground near him.

Officers found Bass, who confirmed he was the boy’s father. Bass allegedly told officers that at approximately 10 a.m., he walked downstairs to take their dog out. While talking with the building’s manager, he noticed an ambulance and fire trucks pull up outside the building.

While firefighters were giving medical attention to the child, Bass said he called Randle to have her check on the children.

When interviewed by police, Randle allegedly told them that they last checked on the children about 11 p.m. on Sunday, and at the time, the window was closed and secured, according to court documents. Randle told officers she woke at about 10 a.m. and heard no noises from the bedroom next door. She allegedly said she knew the window in the children’s room had a rip in the screen and that it couldn’t be locked.

She told police that she and Bass usually secured the window with a blue pole that was supposed to be on the windowsill at the time.

After receiving Bass’ call to check on the children, Randle said she walked into the room and saw the window was opened and the child was missing.

“Randle reported that 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 approximately 1 year ago,” Independence police detective Kurt Jarnagin said in the probable cause statement.

Officers did not see the pole when they checked the children’s room. They also noticed the window was closed. Randle allegedly told them she had closed the window the best she could.

According to court documents, when officers asked how it had opened, Randle said one of the children had admitted to opening it while the children were unattended.

Reports of abuse

One of the children in the apartment was taken to the Child Protection Center for a forensic interview. There, the child said he was in the bedroom with the door shut when the 3-year-old fell out the window and died.

The child also said he had marks on his arms and legs from Randle and Bass allegedly hitting him with a belt they called “Mr. Blacky.” The child said they would hurt the third child, too.

Police obtained a search warrant and found the black belt but could not locate the blue metal pole.

Court documents described the apartment as having trash everywhere, especially the kitchen. There was a shopping cart with “huge piles of trash” built up. The beds in the children’s rooms were allegedly covered in old dirt and had no sheets. Old, used diapers were also found in the children’s room, which smelled of urine.

Child safety covers were on the doorknobs inside the children’s room, inside the main door and outside of the bathroom door.

Safety hazard allegedly known

A witness reported that for approximately eight months, she had seen toys thrown down past her window frequently from the window where the child fell.

After being arrested, Bass allegedly told police in a formal interview that he had known the window was a safety hazard since June 2023, and that the children had been able to bypass the locks and get out the window since December.

Bass said they would put the pole in the track of the window to keep it closed. He allegedly said he knew that one of the children could remove the pole and unlock the windows because neighbors had brought it to their attention that the children were throwing toys out of the window.

Randle also allegedly said she knew of the hazard but had become complacent and overlooked it. She allegedly said she was “concerned from day one that one of her children would fall out the window.”

The Star’s Noelle Alviz-Gransee, Kendrick Calfee and Nathan Pilling provided information for this story.