Kansas City, Kansas father, woman held by police after 3-year-old’s body believed found
A woman and the father of a 3-year-old girl, who police believe they found dead following a more than nine-hour search Friday, are in police custody in the Wyandotte County jail on suspicion of first-degree murder and child abuse.
According to the Missouri State Highway Patrol Howard Jansen III, the girl’s father, reported his daughter, Olivia Ann Jansen, missing from his home in the 4400 block of Gibbs Road in Kansas City, Kansas, at 8:30 a.m. Friday.
He allegedly told police he woke up at 6:30 a.m. and discovered that she was gone. The back door was open. Police said Jansen said he had last seen his daughter around 11 p.m. Thursday.
A body that police said may be Olivia’s was found around 5:30 p.m. Friday in a wooded area in the 3400 block of Steele Road.
According to a post on Olivia’s Aunt’s Facebook page the family planned to hold a vigil for the child at 34th Street and Steele Road Saturday afternoon.
On Friday, after the remains were found, Jansen, 29, was arrested. Jacqulyn Kirkpatrick, 33, was booked into the Wyandotte County jail the next day, according to online jail records.
Both are being held without bond and, as of Saturday afternoon, had not been formally charged in the death of Olivia, according to online court records.
Jansen also was being held on a warrant that originated from Kansas City, Kansas.
Officer Dustin Dierenfeldt, spokesman for the Kansas City, Kansas, Police Department, said earlier in the day that the mother of the child is currently incarcerated.
A large crowd had gathered near South 34th Street and Steele Road as police and other authorities announced they found a child’s body.
Holli Denney, who was at the scene Friday evening, said she is a close friend of the family and wonders if her mom even knows yet.
“I wouldn’t be able to imagine the heartbreak that her mom is feeling,” she said.
Before Olivia was found, Amanda Webb, 41, whose 4-year-old granddaughter was friends with her, had joined the search.
“When something like this happens in the community we just come together like this and do what we can to try to make things come out right,” Webb said earlier in the day.
The Federal Bureau of Investigations was on the scene helping in the search for Olivia early Friday afternoon.
The case is under investigation by the Criminal Investigation Division. Anyone with information is encouraged to call the Kansas City, Kansas, police at 913-596-3000 or the TIPS Hotline at 816-474-TIPS.
The Star’s Katie Bernard contributed to this report.
