Angela West and Shamira Buford killed 5-year-olds: police
Angela West and Shamira Buford (Waynesville Police Department)
Two Missouri women were arrested this week on a series of felonies for allegedly killing a 5-year-old girl who was bound and gagged with a sock in her mouth to prevent the child from stealing food, police said . Angela West, 40, and Shamira Buford, 36, were taken into custody Tuesday and both charged with second-degree murder, first-degree involuntary manslaughter, abuse or neglect of a child – causing death and endangering the first-degree well-being of a child in connection with the Death of the little girl, the authorities announced.
According to a press release from the Waynesville Police Department, a young student contacted a Waynesville School resource officer on the morning of March 7 and reported that prior to arriving at the school, he had seen his younger sister lying on the floor, unconscious and unresponsive. The resource officer immediately contacted police, who responded to the apartment on the 700 block of Washington Street, which is about 140 miles southwest of St. Louis.
Upon arriving at the home, first responders said they had been in contact with another sibling of the reporting child. The second child opened the door and “explained that her younger sibling had died at the residence”.
“Officials entered and confirmed that one person, a 5-year-old woman, was unconscious and unresponsive,” the press release said. “After Waynesville officers secured the area, the victim was pronounced dead at the scene by Pulaski County Coroner Roger Graves.”
The two adult women at the residence — later identified as West and Buford — were subsequently taken into custody and taken to the Pulaski County Jail. District Judge Colin Long ordered that both defendants be held without bail pending further trials.
Police provided additional details in an affidavit of probable cause obtained by Springfield CBS affiliate KOLR.
According to the report, West and Buford were both asleep when police arrived at their home around 8:50 a.m. and the child who answered the door told officers her younger sibling had suffocated. It was reportedly Buford who then found the child’s body covered by a blanket in the living room.
Police said the girl who died appeared to have “significant” ligature marks on her wrists, ankles and neck. A gray sock was found next to the child’s body that was “saturated with an unknown substance” and appeared to contain blood, Columbia ABC affiliate KMIZ reported.
The child who first filed the complaint reportedly told police that both women had been tying up his little sister at night for several weeks because she was stealing food, KOLR reported. Another child reportedly said West and Buford would get the 5-year-old’s siblings to help tie her to a futon.
According to KOLR, Buford admitted to police that she and West were tying up the 5-year-old because she “continues to steal groceries.” They reportedly started with duct tape and eventually progressed to hogtying the kid with nylon rope. Buford also allegedly admitted they used the sock to gag the child because her “whining and crying” kept the other children up at night, reports say.
“We were tired of telling her to shut up,” Buford told police when asked about the sock gag, KMIZ reported.
“I thought she was ok because she could breathe through her nose,” West reportedly said in reference to the sock.
Buford and West are scheduled to appear before Judge Long for a bond review on March 13, court filings show.
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https://lawandcrime.com/crime/missouri-women-charged-with-murdering-5-year-old-by-allegedly-hogtying-her-to-futon-and-gagging-her-with-sock-for-stealing-food/ Angela West and Shamira Buford killed 5-year-olds: police
