Missouri woman charged in child's death after days without food; blamed a migraine
A Missouri woman has been charged in connection to the death of her toddler after police said the child was not fed for almost two days.
The Missouri State Highway Patrol said in a press release that its division of drug and crime control alongside the Cape Girardeau Police Department conducted an investigation into the “suspicious death” of the child.
As a result of the investigation, 21-year-old Alyssa Wehmeyer was arrested on Monday after police alleged that the child suffered from malnutrition and neglect, which they said caused the child’s death.
Court records obtained by Paste BN say that Wehmeyer is accused of not feeding her child for more than 40 hours. The same records say that the child’s cause of death was determined to be dehydration.
Apart from the lack of food, police said that the child had been left unattended in their crib for about 19 hours.
Woman blamed a migraine, police say
Investigators say the child’s death happened Feb. 28 at around 1 p.m. local time. Wehmeyer told police the last time her child had food was the afternoon of Feb. 26.
Wehmeyer told police the last time she saw her child alive was on Feb. 27, about 24 hours after the child’s last meal, when her child “woke up crying.”
According to court records, Wehmeyer told police the reason she had allegedly left her child unattended was due to a migraine. She told police that she had taken three Excedrin and “laid down for a nap.”
Police said that Wehmeyer did not contact anyone to seek medical treatment for both the child's malnutrition or a “severe diaper rash” that the child had.
In the press release, police said Wehmeyer was charged on Tuesday with one count of abuse or neglect of a child - resulting in death. Court records show that Wehmeyer is being held on a $100,000 bond.
Paste BN was not able to find an attorney representing Wehmeyer on Thursday.
Fernando Cervantes Jr. is a trending news reporter for Paste BN. Reach him at fernando.cervantes@gannett.com and follow him on X @fern_cerv_.