Missouri man pleads guilty to manslaughter in infant daughter’s death
COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)
A man accused of killing his daughter and abandoning her corpse was sentenced Friday to seven years in the Missouri Department of Corrections.
Staffone Fountain, 32, of Independence, Missouri, was originally charged with first-degree murder and abandoning a corpse. He pleaded guilty Friday to abandoning a corpse and first-degree involuntary manslaughter.
The state recommended a four-year sentence for abandoning a corpse and seven years for involuntary manslaughter, which will be concurrent.
Samone Daniels, who was four to five months old when she died, was found outside of a tire store in 2019. The child was allegedly strangled to death by Fountain. A relative, Carrie Coker, says that her son always wanted to meet Samone and on his birthday the family would set out a separate candle for Samone.
“Never will I forget the day I got the call from the Boone County Sheriff’s Office. The detective reached out to inform me of the identification of Samone’s remains sparring me the shock of hearing it in an upcoming news conference,” Coker said in her impact statement. “That moment left an inexplicable pain in my heart. I doubt my heart will ever fully heal from the weight of that day.”
Former Columbia Police Department Chief Geoff Jones said in June 2022 that the baby died two years before her remains were discovered. A note turned in to police in 2022 implicated Fountain in the killing, police say.
The mother of the child, Lavosha Daniels, 31, is charged with first-degree endangering the welfare of a child and abandonment of a corpse. A judge reduced her bond from $500,000 to $100,000 in June and she posted bond Wednesday, according to court records.
Her next hearing is set for Sept. 30.
