Documents: Abilene mother, boyfriend accused of stuffing baby in tool bag after death, disposing of body days later

ABILENE, Texas ( KTAB/KRBC ) – An Abilene mother and her boyfriend are accused of stuffing a deceased infant into a tool bag after death then disposing of her body at the lake days later.

Heather Kennedy, 20, and Donald Schultz, 35, were both taken into custody early Friday morning in connection to the infant’s death. Both are charged with tampering with a human corpse, and Schultz is also charged with failure to comply with sex offender registry.

Court documents reveal what the couple says happened to the baby, named Peyton, who was born in February 2024.

The documents state Peyton’s remains were found by a fisherman inside a tool bag on the shoreline of Lake Ft. Phantom Hill the night of August 31. She was described as “severely decomposed”, and detectives had to get an autopsy to determine her exact age.

On Sept. 12, the documents state that detectives received a Crime Stoppers tip identifying Kennedy as Peyton’s mother and Schultz as Kennedy’s boyfriend, claiming that both had been living in Texas with Peyton for a couple of months.

When detectives interviewed Kennedy, the documents state she said she left Peyton in the custody of her father in Idaho and that Peyton was never in Texas with her and Schultz. She also spoke of Peyton in the past tense.

Detectives also interviewed Schultz, who told detectives Peyton was living with them in Abilene, that she had died while sleeping in her car seat inside their residence while they were asleep and that their mobile home would reach temperatures in excess of 100 degrees, according to the documents.

The documents also reveal there was an unnamed witness who was able to corroborate the fact that Peyton died in Abilene and that her remains were stored inside a mobile home on the 6100 block of Texas Avenue for “2 to 4 days” before a decision was made to transport her body to Lake Ft. Phantom Hill.

Schultz was able to confirm that he and Kennedy disposed of Peyton’s body in a tool bag at the lake.

“Suspect Schultz further described events and circumstances that led the Abilene detectives to realize that the parties acknowledged an ongoing investigation as to the missing child was imminent and that both Schultz and Kennedy felt it imperative to conceal and dispose of the body of this minor child,” the documents state.

Both Kennedy and Schultz remain held in the Taylor County Jail on bonds totaling $350,000 and $500,000.

The investigation is ongoing, and no further information is available at this time.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to ConchoValleyHomepage.com.