Grandparents of slain KCK 3-year-old say they had concerns for months over her safety
The grandparents of a 3-year-old Kansas City, Kansas, girl who was killed late last week say they raised concerns about her well-being to child services in June, after not seeing her since March.
Elisabeth and Howard Jansen II said Sunday — shortly after District Attorney Mark Dupree announced their son, Howard Jansen III, 29, and his girlfriend, Jacqulyn Kirkpatrick, 33, were being charged in the girl’s death — that it didn’t have to end this way.
“She’s gone,” Jansen said of his granddaughter, Olivia Ann Jansen, “because of him, and her and the system that wouldn’t help us.”
Elisabeth Jansen said Monday she reported her concerns to the Kansas Department for Children and Families on June 21. She spoke with someone there for more than 20 minutes, expressing fear that drugs were in the home Olivia lived in.
She said she later received a letter from the agency that stated it would not be contacting her with updates, but that she could submit more information to investigators. She worried that if child services contacted Olivia’s father and Kirkpatrick, but then didn’t follow up to check on her, the girl’s situation could get worse. Elisabeth Jansen does not know if the couple was contacted.
Their son and Kirkpatrick kept Olivia from them, the grandparents said. Few people saw the girl since March, they said. They thought they just had to wait for Olivia’s biological mother to get out of prison because she was going to let them take care of her.
“We knew it was bad, but we had no idea what we’re finding out now,” Howard Jansen II said Sunday.
Laura Howard, secretary of the Department for Children and Families, has said her agency is working alongside police during the investigation. The agency reviews critical incidents to determine if there are any policies or procedures that need to be addressed.
The Star has requested information from DCF, regarding any involvement it may have had with Olivia’s family, but nothing has been released at this point.
A spokesman for the agency said if it’s determined Olivia’s death was the result of abuse or neglect, it will release a “summary of any previous reports” it received regarding the girl. Kansas law requires that information be released after a child dies of abuse or neglect.
Charges in Olivia’s death
The grandparents, who wore shirts that displayed a photograph of Olivia donning a pink bow, were among dozens of people gathered outside the Wyandotte County courthouse as Dupree announced Howard Jansen III and Kirkpatrick had been charged with felony murder, aggravated endangering a child and criminal desecration in Olivia’s death.
Asked about the grandparents’ concerns that the system failed them, Dupree said his prayers were with them. There was nothing he could say to ease their pain, he said, but he vowed to seek justice for “baby Olivia.”
“You can do everything right, and still something so bad and so wrong happens,” Dupree said during a news conference.
The district attorney urged anyone with information about a child being abused to call the police, regardless of if they are a mandatory reporter. He called it the community’s responsibility to protect its children.
“Our children are our most important parts of our now and our future,” Dupree said. “I ask you to make the call, to try to help some child so that we, I hope, will not have to come to this place again in such a horrible situation.”
Olivia was killed on or between Thursday and Friday, according to charging documents. Authorities have not released how she died or any details about the evidence that led prosecutors to charge Jansen III and Kirkpatrick.
‘She knew she was going to die’
Elisabeth Jansen said the last time she saw her granddaughter — who used to call her “Meemaw” and “Sunshine” — was March 6 after she slept over. She recalled the girl waking up with wild, tangled hair.
“You just look like a pretty lion,” she told Olivia, making her laugh.
Then they ate pink donuts. Olivia ate the icing first.
As they chanted outside the courthouse Sunday evening, Elisabeth and Howard Jansen II said they wanted their son to hear their cries for justice, to know “he has no family.”
Olivia, her grandparents recalled, was once sassy. But at some point, she lost her spark.
“She knew she was going to die,” Elisabeth Jansen said.
The Star’s Laura Bauer contributed to this report.
This story was originally published July 14, 2020 at 1:41 PM.
