Columbia woman charged with 11 counts in child abuse case
A Columbia woman has been charged with 11 criminal counts in connection with the alleged abuse of her children, which police say included placing a plastic bag over one child’s head.
Prosecutors on Thursday charged Shiree K. Howard, 38, with seven counts of child endangerment and two counts each of child abuse and armed criminal action after a months-long investigation by the state Children’s Division and Columbia Police Department.
The investigation began in May with a report to the Missouri Department of Family Resources and culminated with forensic interviews last week, according to court records.
Howard’s children in multiple interviews told investigators Howard regularly hits them with a yellow plastic bat and uses drugs in the house, according to a probable cause statement. One child said Howard several years ago placed a plastic bag around her head and held it there for about 20 seconds, according to the statement. The child told police she thought she would die and that Howard has threatened the lives of her and the other children, according to the statement.
On one occasion, Howard beat two of her older children after her toddler got into her cocaine, police wrote in the statement.
One of the children told investigators that Howard beat one of the other children in the head with a vacuum cleaner attachment, causing the child to bleed and requiring treatment at a hospital, according to the statement.
Police arrested Howard on Wednesday at Lange Middle School, according to CPD arrest records. Columbia Public Schools spokesman Michelle Baumstark said the arrest was a personal matter not related directly to CPS. Howard is a CPS employee and has been placed on leave, she said.
Howard remained in the Boone County Jail on Thursday on a $110,000 cash-only bond.
