Sunday, February 25, 2018

Joplin man accused of killing three-year-old to be arraigned Monday

A Joplin man accused of murdering a three-year-old child will be arraigned before Judge Gayle Crane 9 a.m. Monday in Jasper County Circuit Court.

Leonard Valdez, 21, is charged with second degree murder and felony child abuse in connection with the November 12 death of three-year-old Jonathan Munoz-Bilbrey.

The three-year-old was taken to Children's Mercy Hospital in Kansas City after he suffered brain injuries, facial bruising and a laceration at his home at 1502 S. Michigan Avenue November 10.

The probable cause statement indicates Valdez was the only person supervising the boy at the time the injuries occurred.

The boy died 22 days after the Joplin Police Department arrested Valdez for domestic assault at the same address, 1502 S. Michigan Avenue, where police say the child abuse took place. The victim was the boy's mother, Natasha Michelle Bilbrey, 22, according to the JPD incident report.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

And I guess no negligent homicide charges will be brought against the mother who left her son alone with an known abusive man?

The mother's should be held accountable in the death of their children when these crimes happen.
It was her only job as a mother, to protect her child, she failed.

I am so angry that women let this happen to their children.

Anonymous said...

I find it interesting that something like this doesn't fire up the comments. It seems to me it is much more worthy of outrage than a lot of the other stuff that people comment on. Is it because it has become so commonplace that we're desensitized? Do we just not care that a monster does this to a child? We'll fight over guns, abortion and immigration. Child abuse? Meh

Anonymous said...

@6:39 - Me personally, totally desensitized. Seems like every other story in this area is a murder or some type of child porn incident. It's very sad. I'm currently saving up my money to get out of here. Yes, crime is all over. But, the 4 state area is out of control. This area is so depressing and the corruptness is beyond measure.

Why would anyone in there right mind choose to raise a family here?

Greitens can have it!