MARION COUNTY, Ind– Authorities are reporting that a missing one-year-old who was found dead inside of a dresser died from “homicide of unspecified means. ”
The decomposing body of Oaklee Mae Snow was discovered on April 21, inside of the piece of furniture in an abandoned building after she was reported missing from her home in January.
At the time Snow was reported missing, she was believed to have been traveling to Indianapolis with her mother, 22-year-old Madison Marshall, however, after months of investigating, Marshall finally led authorities to Snow’s body and implicated her boyfriend Roan Waters.
Marshall told investigators that Water would physically discipline Snow for what he perceived as misbehavior, including “holding a fork wrong, or “urinating her diaper,” though they were common toddlers behaviors.
Marshall also told investigators that Snow stopped eating around Waters because would become “aggressive” when she did not eat at the pace Waters wanted her to eat.
Both Marshall and Waters have since been arrested for Snow’s abduction and death.
“As parents, we have a duty to protect our children,” Marion County Prosecutor Ryan Mears said in a press release announcing the charges. “Not only did these two individuals fail to live up to that responsibility, but the allegations in the probable cause affidavit indicate that Oaklee suffered a horrific death and an abandonment that diminished the dignity that any child deserves.”
Marshall has been charged with neglect of a dependent resulting in death, neglect of a dependent resulting in serious injury, assisting a criminal in a murder, neglect of a dependent – endangerment, and neglect of a dependent – abandonment. She is expected to go to trial on July 10th.
Water has been charged with murder, neglect of a dependent resulting in death, neglect of a dependent resulting in serious injury, battery resulting in bodily injury to a person under 14, and neglect of a dependent. His trial is slated for Oct. 2.