A 41-year-old Missouri woman will spend the rest of her life in prison after she admitted to playing a part in the horrific death of a 5-year-old, according to reports.
Angela West pleaded guilty to one count of endangering the welfare of a child, resulting in death, after she helped hogtie and gag a child for allegedly “stealing food at night.”
According to court records, West was one of two women arrested. Her co-defendant, Shamira Buford, is set to go on trial in June of 2024. She will be facing charges of endangering the welfare of a child, abuse or neglect of a child, second-degree murder, and involuntary manslaughter.
“This is one, if not the most tragic case, I have seen in my thirteen years as Prosecuting Attorney,” said Pulaski County Prosecuting Attorney Kevin Hillman. “These were heinous acts perpetrated on a young and innocent victim over a long period of time and I commend Judge Beger for sentencing the defendant to life imprisonment for her role in this abuse and death of this child.”
The incident happened in March. A young student at Waynesville School told the resource officer that before arriving at school, he saw his younger sister unconscious and unresponsive on the floor of their home. The resource officer then immediately contacted the police, who quickly responded to the boy’s residence.
First responders said when they arrived at the house another child answered the door and told them that their younger sibling was dead inside. Authorities then entered the house where they found the dead child.
Two women were at home at the this time, both were later identified as West and Buford.
According to an affidavit, both of the women were asleep when police arrived to their home just before 9 a.m. The child who answered the door told them that their sibling had been choked and that their body was being covered by a blanket in the living room.
The girl appeared to have significant injury marks around her wrists, ankles, and neck. Next to her body was a gray sock with blood and another unknown substance on it.
The child who had originally made the report told police that the two women had been tying up his little sister at night for several weeks because she “steals food.” Another one of the siblings said that the two women would make the other kids help tie her to a futon.
When questioned, Buford admitted that they would tie up the girl, but again saying they only did it because she “stole food.” They allegedly started off by using duct tape, but they eventually moved on to hogtying the child using a nylon rope. Buford also admitted to police that they used the sock to gag the child because her “whining and crying” kept the other kids up at night.
“We got tired of telling her to be quiet,” Buford said to police.
West said she thought the girl would be alright with the sock because she could “breathe through her nose.”
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