A toddler died after allegedly being denied food for two days. Mom blamed it on ‘a migraine,’ cops say
Alyssa Wehmeyer, 21, told investigators she should have been more attentive “but she had a migraine,” according to a probable cause affidavit.
A toddler in Missouri is dead from severe malnutrition after not being fed for nearly two full days, according to authorities.
Alyssa Nicole Wehmeyer, 21, was arrested Monday on one count of abuse or neglect of a child resulting in death, a warrant filed in Cape Girardeau Circuit Court shows. She is being held at the Scott County Jail on $100,000 cash bond.
Cape Girardeau sits about 115 miles southeast of St. Louis.
An autopsy found the child, who was reportedly 1 year old, hadn’t eaten for approximately 43 hours, according to the warrant and an accompanying probable cause affidavit, which says medical examiners found “very little evidence of food in the stomach.”
Wehmeyer does not have an attorney listed in court records and was unable to be reached for comment.
The Cape Girardeau Police Department found the child’s body on February 28th at Wehmeyer’s home, and requested assistance from the Missouri State Highway Patrol, the probable cause affidavit states. Investigators later interviewed Wehmeyer, who said the child had last eaten on February 26th between 5 and 6 p.m., according to the affidavit.
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It says Wehmeyer told police that she changed the child’s diaper on February 27th, between 5:30 and 6 p.m., and put the toddler to bed at roughly 6:30 p.m.
“At this time, it had been roughly 24-hours since [the child] had eaten,” the affidavit states.
On February 28th, the child woke up crying at around 2 a.m., at which point Wehmeyer held them for 30 to 40 minutes, then laid them back down in their crib, the affidavit goes on. She didn’t check up on the child until about 1 p.m. that afternoon, and “noticed [its] lips were blue and was not breathing,” the affidavit continues.
“I asked Wehmeyer about the severe blisters on [the child’s] buttocks from diaper rash,” the police investigator wrote in the affidavit. “Wehmeyer informed us that it had been nearly nineteen hours since she last changed [its] diaper.”
By now, the child hadn’t eaten in more than 36 hours and had been left unattended for nearly 19 hours, according to the affidavit.
“Wehmeyer informed us that she should have taken [the child] to the doctor on the 27th and should have changed [its] diaper more regularly, but she had a migraine,” the affidavit states. “Wehmeyer stated she had taken three Excedrin and laid down for a nap while at home alone with [the child]. At one point during the interview, Wehmeyer informed us that she didn't contact anyone to seek medical treatment regarding malnutrition or the severe diaper rash.”
In total, the warrant for Wehmeyer’s arrest alleges, the child hadn’t eaten in some 43 hours.
Wehmeyer was arrested at the conclusion of the interview and taken to jail. She has no prior criminal history, according to the affidavit.
If convicted, Wehmeyer faces a minimum sentence of 15 years. She will make her first court appearance on Thursday.