Judge reveals father allegedly strangled baby in 2017 killing
COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)
One of the parents accused of killing their baby in 2017 and abandoning the body in a backpack, is back in Boone County.
Staffone Fountain was in court Thursday. He and the baby's mother Lavosha Daniels are charged in the baby's murder.
The judge revealed Fountain allegedly killed the baby by strangulation.
This is a case that has taken a toll and means a lot to law enforcement who worked for years to identify baby Samone Daniels's body.
Fountain is being held with no bond. He is charged with first-degree murder which carries a sentence of life in prison without the possibility of parole for strangling baby Daniels to death. He is also being charged with abandonment of a corpse which carries a sentence of four years in prison.
Fountain was on probation for a 2018 stealing conviction. He was being held in Buchanan County in northwest Missouri and was booked in the Boone County Jail on Thursday.
Baby Daniels was killed at the Red Roof Inn in Columbia. Her body was found behind a tire store on Providence Road.
Lavosha is charged with abandonment of a corpse and child endangerment.
The breakthrough in the case came when a person turned in a letter found on June 14 at the Super 8 Motel connecting the parents to the baby's remains. The baby's mother wrote the letter which was addressed to Columbia police.
