FULL
TEXT: Marshfield – A rural Niangua woman killed her 5-year-old son because she
was angry with her husband, investigators testified at a preliminary hearing
Tuesday afternoon.
Two
criminal investigators with the Missouri State Highway Patrol said Bess Fern
Baldwin told them told them her husband David couldn’t keep a job and had
drinking problems.
“She
said, ‘I was so mad. I was so mad. It’s the only way I could keep David from
hurting us anymore,’” Sgt. Jack Merritt testified in Webster County Associate
Circuit Court. “She expressed her anger in that context.”
At
the end of the hearing, Baldwin, 33, was bound over for trial in the death of
her son Clayton. Arraignment is set for 9 a. m. Dec. 15.
Baldwin
is charged with second-degree murder. She is free on $100,000 bail.
Clayton
Baldwin was killed Oct. 1 as he slept in the family house on Webster County M
about eight miles northeast of Niangua.
Her
husband, who didn’t attend the preliminary hearing, was close to Clayton,
testimony indicated.
During
the two-hour hearing, Bess Baldwin kept her head propped on her clasped hands
and cried as law enforcement officials described their investigation. They said
she wasn’t suspected in his death until she blurted out “I hurt my baby” when
she returned home a week after the killing.
After
admitting she killed Clayton, Baldwin said it was accidental, testimony showed.
Later she told investigators the incident was prompted by domestic problems
with her husband.
Sheriff
Eugene Fraker testified that Baldwin first told authorities she picked up
Clayton at her sister’s home, took him and put him into bead. She also called a
family friend in an effort to learn her husband’s whereabouts. While outside
the house, she heard a popping sound.
“She
answered me that she saw no one, saw no car, saw no lights,” Franker testified.
A
.410-guage shotgun belonging to Clayton’s 12-year-old brother, Who wasn’t home,
was discovered near the house.
Sgt.
Tom Martin, a criminal investigator with the highway patrol, led the
investigation because county officials were already grappling with the Sept. 25
shooting deaths of seven family members near Elkland.
Martin
said Baldwin gave conflicting statements about her son’s death.
When
Baldwin decided to return home a week after the incident, Martin and other
investigators escorted her on the assumption that she could provide more
details.
They
were walking toward the older brother’s bedroom, where the shotgun was kept.
“She
just stopped sobbing and said, ‘I hurt my son,’” Martin testified.
At
first, Baldwin told authorities that Clayton was accidentally killed after he
got the shotgun when she heard strange noises.
Later
this evening, Baldwin was taken to the highway patrol’s Troop D headquarters in
Springfield. She confessed that she killed Clayton because she was mad at her
husband, Martin testified.
[Bill
Maurer, “Trooper says woman killed son because of anger at her husband,” The
Springfield News-Leader (Mo.), Nov. 25, 1987, p. 12]
***
Oct.
1, 1987 – murder of Clayton Baldwin, 5, by shotgun.
Nov.
24, 1987 – preliminary hearing; police testimony;Webster County Circuit Court.
Dec.
16, 1987 – Pleads not guilty.
May
11, 1988 – Trial begins. 2nd degree murder.
May
13, 1988 – convicted of 2nd degree murder; 4 hrs deliberation; recommended
life sent.
Jul.
8, 1988 – sentencing hearing. Sentenced to life in prison.
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[458-2/20/21]
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