Mother accused of murdering infant appears in court

KENNETT, Mo. -- A Campbell woman accused of murdering her 1-month-old daughter by strangling her appeared Tuesday in a Dunklin County court.

Joanna A. Faucett, 24, made her initial appearance before Associate Circuit Judge John Spielman on the Class A felony of second-degree murder, according to Dunklin County Prosecuting Attorney Steve Sokoloff.

During her appearance, Sokoloff said, Faucett applied to have a public defender represent her.

Charles Hirth with the Public Defender's Office entered an appearance on behalf of Faucett, who waived formal arraignment on the charge.

Spielman ordered Faucett to next appear at 9 a.m. May 26.

The complaint on file with the court alleges on April 29 Faucett "knowingly caused the death of (the victim) by strangling her."

The charge was the result of an investigation by the Campbell Police Department, Dunklin County Sheriff's Department and the Missouri State Highway Patrol and Troop E's Division of Drug and Crime Control.

Sheriff Bob Holder said he contacted the other agencies after he received a telephone call indicating "there may be something wrong."

The alleged victim, the infant daughter of Daniel and Joanna Faucett, had been found dead in her crib, Patrol Sgt. Scott Rawson said in his probable cause affidavit on file with the court.

The parents, Rawson said, reported Joanna Faucett fed the infant at 2 a.m.

When Joanna Faucett woke up at 7 a.m., "she found (the infant) in the crib, and she was dead," Rawson said.

The infant, according to Holder, was one of a set of triplets born prematurely to Joanna Faucett and had "just been home a short while."

The other two infants, Holder said, were still in the hospital at the time.

During the investigation, Rawson said, officers learned the Joanna Faucett had another infant daughter who died on July 16 at 16 days of age.

"We don't really have much to go on on that particular death," said Holder, who believes a report was made with the Campbell Police Department and an autopsy done. "I think they basically said it was a SIDS (Sudden Infant Death Syndrome) death."

Holder said officers do not plan to investigate the 2008 death at this point, but it "sends up a red flag."

Faucett, Holder said, was interviewed by officers about the April death of daughter.

At this time, Holder said, he did not want to comment on the circumstances surrounding the death or a possible motive.

"Unfortunately, there is too much of this going on; it's just incomprehensible really," Holder said.