Stormy Baker, Chelsey Martin (Cedar County Sheriff’s Office)
A South Greenfield, Mo., father grabbing water for his cattle and a mother watching TV face murder charges after their 3-year-old son got hold of “daddy’s gun” in a bedroom and killed his 1-year-old sister at the family’s Dade County home last July.
Stormy Miles Baker and Chelsey K. Martin, both listed in records at 28 years old, face charges of second-degree murder, first-degree endangering the welfare of a child resulting in death, and first-degree endangering the welfare of a child by “knowingly” creating a substantial risk to the “life, body, or health of a child less than seventeen years of age.”
Missouri law says that second-degree murder is committed when someone “Knowingly causes the death of another person or, with the purpose of causing serious physical injury to another person, causes the death of another person,” or when someone “Commits or attempts to commit any felony, and, in the perpetration or the attempted perpetration of such felony or in the flight from the perpetration or attempted perpetration of such felony, another person is killed as a result of the perpetration or attempted perpetration of such felony or immediate flight from the perpetration of such felony or attempted perpetration of such felony.”
It appears the state’s theory of the case is that the 1-year-old girl was killed as a result of the felony child endangerment crimes allegedly committed by the defendants on July 20, 2022, namely: Leaving young children alone in a bedroom within reach of loaded guns.
OzarksFirst reported that the victim was shot in the chest that day while Baker was out getting water for his cattle and Martin was watching TV, after the mother cleaned the kitchen.
A Missouri State Highway Patrol who responded to the scene allegedly observed a rifle on a bed, where the mother saw the 3-year-old standing after the gun went off, the report said.
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“The guns have always sat in the corner, by the dresser, and they’ve never touched them ever,” Martin was quoted saying of the .22 rifles, a .270 rifle, and a 12-gauge shotgun that the parents allegedly admitted keeping in the room. Baker reportedly told state police that the guns were all “probably” loaded but, as far as he knew, the firearms’ safeties were on.
Baker then allegedly told authorities “It’s my fault.”
“I’m the one that left the [expletive] guns loaded in the house where they could get to it,” he allegedly said.
Most damningly, the report indicated, the 3-year-old boy told troopers he used “daddy’s gun” to shoot his sister.
The office of Dade County Prosecuting Attorney Marcy Greenwade filed an affidavit of probable cause on June 7 and a warrant in the murder case was issued on June 9, Missouri court records reviewed by Law&Crime show. The parents were booked into Cedar County jail before 10 p.m. on June 10, last Saturday night.
Court records and jail records both say that the defendants were held on a $100,000 bond.
Both Baker and Martin were scheduled to appear in court on Tuesday morning for an arraignment. The court docket says Craig Richard Heidemann is counsel for Baker and John A. Lewright is representing Martin.
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