Probable cause: Carl Junction man abused 3-year-old, left her on floor bloody, unconscious

The live-in boyfriend of the mother of three-year-old Jayda Kyle described to Carl Junction Police how he committed the abuse that led to her death, according to a probable cause statement filed this afternoon in Jasper County Circuit Court.

The boyfriend, Jalen Dashawn Vaden is being held without bond in the Jasper County Jail on second degree murder and felony child abuse charges.

When Carl Junction officers responded to 405 Meadow Lake to a report of a child who had been found in her bedroom unresponsive.

Jayda Kyle was taken to Mercy Hospital, Joplin, then airlifted to Children's Mercy Hospital where doctors determined she had "abusive head trauma." She died Friday. The autopsy confirmed the child abuse diagnosis.

Vaden told police he "became upset over the child not being dressed in the pajamas he instructed her to put on." He picked the child up and threw her, causing her to hit her head on the floor, according to the probable cause statement.

A short time later, Vaden said, Jayda left the room still not wearing the pajamas. He said he threw her on the bed, then grabbed her by the leg and threw her face first on the floor.

When he returned, Vaden told the officers, he found Jayda "bleeding and unresponsive.