2025 trial set for man whose son fell to his death from Independence Towers window
A Jackson County judge has scheduled a 2025 trial for an Independence man charged in the death of his young son after the 3-year-old fell out of an eighth-story window at an Independence apartment building.
Moses Lee Bass, 30, and Destiny Lee Randle, 29, were charged with first-degree child endangerment, a felony, after Tidus L. Bass fell to his death at Independence Towers on July 29, 2024.
Bass’ jury trial is set to begin at 9 a.m. Sept. 29, 2025 at the Jackson County courthouse in Independence.
A grand jury indicted Bass and Randle on the child endangerment charges in October. Grand jurors found that Bass and Randle had failed to supervise Tidus while he was in a room with a faulty window that could be fully opened.
Both Bass and Randle were initially held on $10,000 bonds. While no trial date has been set for Randle, she is scheduled to appear in Independence criminal court on Dec. 12 for a pre-trial conference.
If found guilty, both Bass and Randle face between 10 years and 30 years, or life, in prison.
Tidus fell out the window of the apartment at 728 N. Jennings Road at 10:05 a.m., where firefighters found him unconscious but breathing on the grass outside. He was pronounced dead several hours later at Children’s Mercy Hospital in Kansas City.
Court documents indicate that at least one resident of a lower floor was aware as the child fell and reached out to emergency medical services. Bass told officers that he had stepped out to walk the family dog around 10 a.m., court records read, and returned to the building as fire trucks and an ambulance were arriving.
According to court documents, Bass and Randle had known the window was broken for over a year before Tidus died. Randle told police investigators that the window had been in the same condition since the couple and children moved into Independence Towers, and that she had filed several requests for building management to repair it.
“[Randle was] concerned from day one that one of her children would fall out the window,” court documents read.
The couple often kept the window closed by wedging a pole into the window track, court documents read, but knew that some of the children in the home had learned how to remove it the previous December. One of the other children had opened the window in this manner just before Tidus fell, Randle told police.
After Tidus’ death, other children in the home were briefly placed in state custody before reuniting with family.
Multiple complaints regarding property management at Independence Towers have come to light in the months preceding and following Tidus’ death. Residents have spoken on issues including faulty plumbing and nonfunctional heat and cooling, flooding, mold, holes in walls and ceilings, infestations of pests and sporadic water shutoff notices.
The beleaguered building changed hands in May when a Jackson County judge ousted property management company FTW Investments, along with CEO Parker Webb, alleging violations of FTW’s loan agreements with national real estate financing company Fannie Mae.
Webb never responded to residents’ complaints during his stewardship of the building, The Star reported. Now, residents are calling for more communication from new property managers Trigild Inc. and vice president Nancy Daniels.
Some residents have responded to property management concerns by withholding rent payments, in a strike that has persisted since Oct. 1 and included some residents of Quality Hill Towers in Kansas City for its first two months.
Funeral services for Tidus were held on Aug. 31 at Watkins Heritage Chapel in Kansas City. Bass was barred from attending based on the conditions of his bond.
Previous reporting from Noelle Alviz-Gransee, Robert A. Cronkleton, Laura Bauer, Nathan Pilling and Kendrick Calfee contributed to this coverage.
This story was originally published December 5, 2024 at 6:00 PM.
