Blue Springs police reopen investigation

KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- Blue Springs police have reopened their investigation into a death of an infant after her father was charged over the weekend with killing another daughter.

The cause of 8-month-old Katelynn Annemarie Duvall's death in March 2001 had been ruled sudden infant death syndrome following an investigation and autopsy.

But Blue Springs police Sgt. Mike Kruger said Monday the case is being re-examined after the girl's father, Geoffrey P. Duvall, 22, was charged Saturday with smothering 3-month-old Megan N. Duvall.

Duvall told police he laid the baby on a couch and put a pillow over her face after she became "fussy," according to court documents. "We're going to double check to make sure we didn't miss anything," Kruger said.

The reopening of the investigation came as Jackson County Prosecutor Michael Sanders said his office has filed charges in the deaths of seven children this year, a record number.

There wasn't enough evidence to file charges in two other suspicious child death cases, and a youth was charged in juvenile court in another case, Sanders said.

Sanders said the rise in child homicides in the county was alarming, particularly because the rates of most other types of crimes are dropping, both in Jackson County and nationwide. He said prosecuting child homicide cases is a top priority for his office.

"There's nothing more important to do in law enforcement and the prosecutor's office than to protect our children," Sanders said.

Before this year, no more than four children had been killed in a single year in the county since the office first began tracking child deaths in 1997, Sanders said.

There were 49 child homicides in the whole state in Missouri in 2000, the last year for which information is available from the Missouri Child Fatality Review Program.