Woman charged with child abuse, allegedly left children at pool
COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)
A woman faces several child-abuse charges after allegedly leaving four children at a pool in Columbia.
Ebony Myers, 30, is charged with five counts of child abuse. Her address is listed as Jefferson City on Casenet, but is said to be an Indiana resident who was visiting Missouri in the probable cause statement.
She is being held at the Boone County Jail on a $25,000 bond. An arraignment was held Monday and Myers appeared by video from the jail. A confined docket hearing is scheduled for 1 p.m. Tuesday, while a preliminary hearing is set for 9 a.m. Thursday, Aug. 3. A bond investigation was ordered.
Police were called around 1:30 a.m. Sunday to an apartment complex for a call of abandoned children, according to a heavily redacted probable cause statement. A witness allegedly told police that four children and an adult arrived at the pool of the complex around 10 p.m. Saturday. The adult with them appeared to be intoxicated and falling asleep at the pool, the statement says.
The witness told police that the caregiver removed the children from the pool, told the children to wait and then left in a vehicle without them, the probable cause statement says. The children were allegedly left with just their swimwear without towels. The children or caregiver appeared to not have any association with the complex, the statement says. The youth were allegedly seen crying while waiting for law enforcement.
The children allegedly had difficulty providing information about where they lived. One child eventually told police “auntie Ebony” brought them to the pool, the statement says. Myers was allegedly the mother of at least two of the children.
Around 4:30 a.m., a man -- who is said to be the father of at least one of the children -- arrived to CPD and identified Myers as the mother of one of the children, the statement says. He told officers Myers drove the children to a pool. He told police Myers called him around 2 a.m. and asked to be picked up at a gas station about 3.4 miles away from the pool, the statement says.
The man allegedly told police that Myers told him the children were at the pool and that she arrived while police were there and immediately left.
Myers then allegedly arrived to CPD and said her name was “Amber” and walked out of the police station. She was arrested and allegedly refused to speak with police before saying “there’s another kid in the car.” She had been inside CPD for about 20 minutes, the probable cause statement says. Police retrieved the child.
