A newborn baby and her toddler sister were found mysteriously dead on Wednesday, outside of their Missouri home, shortly after their parents got into a physical altercation.
Fox News KC reports that Jenna Boedecker-Ribando found her daughters, 2-year-old Ireland Autumn Jane Ribando and 7-week-old Goodknight Berretta June Ribando, unresponsive outside of their Kearney home off of the 15600 block of Cameron Road on Wednesday, following an altercation with her husband, Joseph Ribando. The children were rushed to the hospital where both were pronounced dead.
According to Joseph, his wife apparently became upset when she thought he cheated on her, and subsequently threw a brick at him as he was driving away from their rural home. She then smashed into his F-150 truck with her Jeep Patriot, causing damage to both vehicles. Authorities indicated that the damage on the vehicles was consistent with Joseph’s story.
Jenna Ribando pictures,arrested hours after her girls were found dead https://t.co/uJpN3ZUaoy pic.twitter.com/ewgpTUWjQX
— infowe (@infowe) July 6, 2018
Joseph told authorities that after the incident, he drove over to his mother’s house and stayed there for the day until detectives called and told him his two babies were deceased.
Ribando is currently behind bars on domestic violence charges as investigators work on determining how and why two young, healthy children mysteriously passed away. So far, according to Clay County sheriff’s Capt. Will Akin, drowning, use of firearms, and traffic-related causes have been ruled out. The Jackson County Medical Examiner’s Office is currently performing autopsies on the children.
“We are going to treat this investigation with the utmost priority to try to get those answers, not only for everyone who is watching right now but also for the family,” Akin said. “They need closure as well.”
Initially, authorities indicated they didn’t think foul play happened. On Thursday night, however, criminal investigators were asked to join the case. Ribando is currently only charged in connection with the alleged assault on her husband.
“The only thing I’m comfortable saying is she’s charged with assault. And it’s too early for me to put labels on something when we’re trying to determine exactly what happened,” Clay County Deputy Jon Bazzano told KCTV News.
Meanwhile, members of the Kearney community set up a GoFundMe page to help the children’s father with funeral and burial expenses.
Ribando remains behind bars on a $75,000 bond for domestic violence charges.
The story is still developing. Check back with CrimeOnline as additional details become available.
[Feature Photo: Ireland and Goodknight/GoFundMe]
