A chilling note has helped police solve the mysterious murder of a baby whose decomposing remains were found in a backpack hidden in a tire.
Columbia Police Department has announced the arrest of the mother and father of “Baby Doe,” who was found dead in 2019.
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Staffone Fountain and Lavosha Daniels are both in jail, Columbia Police Chief Geoff Jones announced on June 28.
Fountain was arrested by the St. Joseph Police Department, while Daniels was arrested by the US Marshal Department in St. Louis.
Both remain in custody without bail.
The child has been identified as Samone J. Daniels, who was about four or five months old when she died, Jones said.
The dead child was discovered in the tape on August 15, 2019, but officials believe her remains have been there for two years.
Samone’s remains were so decayed that she could not be easily identified when she was discovered.
The Columbia Police Department has partnered with an anthropologist and partnered with a private lab in 2020 to conduct genealogy testing.
Now a medical examiner and the anthropologist will determine the official cause of Samone’s death.
NEW PROOF
A new lead in the case aided police in their investigation.
A member of the Columbia, Missouri community shared a letter to police on June 14 with information about the case.
The letter, which was found in a Super 8 Hotel in Columbia, is believed to be from Daniels and was addressed to the police.
A probable letter obtained by the Columbia Missourian revealed the contents of the letter.
Daniels reportedly returned from a shift and fed the baby before going to bed.
She woke up hours later to find the child with a towel around her neck.
Blood also came from the child’s mouth, the statement said.
The letter indicates that Fountain stayed with the child while Daniels slept.
Daniels performed CPR on the child and then fled.
It was Fountain who allegedly put the body in the backpack which was then left at McKnight Tire.
Fountain has been charged with first degree murder and leaving a body behind. Daniels faces the abandonment of a corpse and first-degree abandonment of a child, Jones said.
Daniels reportedly had eight children, including Samone’s twin brother who was given up for adoption.
“One of our detectives said it best: ‘Our main goal was to name this child and honor her memory. That happened today,” Jones said.