Mother gets probation in Columbia baby’s death
COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)
A St. Louis woman who pleaded guilty to the death of her infant whose body was found behind a Columbia tire store was sentenced Monday to probation.
Lavosha Daniels was sentenced to four years in prison on a charge of corpse abandonment and seven years for involuntary manslaughter. The sentences would run concurrently but Judge Kevin Crane suspended them, placing Daniels on probation for five years.
A probation violation could trigger a prison sentence.
Daniels pleaded guilty last month. She had originally been charged with corpse abandonment and child endangerment causing death after Samone Daniels, who was 4-5 months old, was found dead outside of a tire store in 2019.
The baby died after allegedly being strangled by Staffone Fountain, who was sentenced to seven years in prison in August.
Police arrested Fountain and Daniels in 2022 after someone found a note apparently from Daniels addressed to police in a different hotel describing what happened. Prosecutors claimed that Fountain may have struck the child and placed her in an unsafe sleeping position when he put the child in a car seat and placed her in the bathtub.
Expert testimony Monday said the child's body showed signs of abuse.
