An Overland Park couple has been arrested and charged with three felony counts related to the death of their child.
Kevin Martenia, 31, and Alexis Williams, 30, made their first court appearances on Thursday, April 18.
Both are charged with first-degree murder, abuse of a child under the age of 18 and aggravated endangerment of a child. Their bond is each set at $1,000,000.
Police, paramedics went to apartment in May 2023
In a criminal affidavit released earlier this week, prosecutors allege that the couple’s one-year-old daughter died as a result of malnutrition and dehydration due to neglect.
The child, identified in the affidavit by the initials W.J.A.M., was one year and three days old when Overland Park police, firefighters and Johnson County Med-Act paramedics were called to the couple’s apartment on May 22, 2023, just after 11:00 a.m.
At the scene, investigators determined the child had been dead for approximately 11 hours.
Officers who saw the girl said that she “appeared tiny,” and they could see her “ribs and observed facial injuries on the right side of her face.”
Two other children were inside the apartment at the time. The affidavit does not provide any identifying information about those children or their ages.
Officers later obtained a search warrant for the apartment, where they reported the apartment was “messy and cluttered.”
The affidavit said, “The refrigerator was full, and there was baby food and snacks on the counter. All of the kitchen cabinets were empty and bare.”
Autopsy determined death was a homicide
Autopsy results showed W.J.A.M. died of a telescoping intestine causing a bowel obstruction.
Wounds on the child’s face were determined to be “superficial and from lying in one spot after death for a period of time.”
C.T. scans and X-rays taken during the autopsy were sent to Children’s Mercy Hospital for further analysis.
Children’s Mercy determined that W.J.A.M. had a small fracture that appeared to be healed and that her skull did not fuse correctly due to malnutrition.
With the autopsy results, the death was ruled a homicide.
The couple remain in custody
The affidavit also details an interview with one of the other children that was conducted at a local children’s advocacy and abuse prevention center.
That child told investigators that that Martenia and Williams “told her that police were going to take her away if she says something bad.”
The child also described “whoopings” that she and the other child received from both parents using a rope, curtain rod, belt, and other objects.
According to the affidavit, a photo taken inside the apartment as part of the search warrant showed a yellow and blue rope with a knot on the floor in the master bedroom. The photographed rope was deemed “consistent with [redacted child’s name] description.”
Both Martenia and Williams remain in the custody of the Johnson County Sheriff’s Office. Their next court appearances are scheduled for May 15.
