INDEPENDENCE, Mo. — One year has passed since a baby boy named Remi was abused and left permanently disabled.
Although authorities all agree someone abused him, no one has been charged.
KSHB 41 investigative reporter Sarah Plake's story first aired last fall, and several of our viewers reached out, shocked that no one has been held accountable for the crime.
VOICE FOR EVERYONE | Share your voice with KSHB 41’s Sarah Plake
The police think there's enough to charge, but the Jackson County Prosecuting Attorney's Office isn't so sure.
We wanted to get a sense of how the case was investigated and how law enforcement got to this point. We'll walk you through the key points of the investigation and where it stands today.
A little boy who has come so far
Recently, Remi's family hosted a big celebration for his first birthday.
"We printed out a bunch of pictures, and seeing him through that period and seeing him now, it’s not even the same baby. He’s obviously doing way better," Beau Alberson, Remi's grandpa, "Papa," told KSHB 41 as the family set up for the party.
Celebrating one year of Remi’s life is an understatement when you consider hospital staff found he suffered a brain bleed, brain damage, a skull fracture, and rib fractures in various stages of healing when he was 6 weeks old.
According to records obtained by the 41 I-Team, the hospital and the Missouri Department of Social Services' Children's Division determined it was intentional child abuse that happened for seven to 10 days.
Remi was in the hospital for more than a month. He needed a feeding tube to eat and has gone through extensive physical therapy. He was diagnosed with cerebral palsy due to the abuse and will be disabled for the rest of his life.
"It makes you cry knowing that something like that happened to him and it’s accepted," Alberson said.
No one is answering for the crime; the case is closed
Last fall, according to affidavits the I-Team obtained, the Independence Police Department determined there was enough probable cause to believe Remi’s mother and her boyfriend endangered Remi’s welfare through neglect and failing to get him timely and proper care before he went unresponsive on June 18, 2024.
Former Jackson County Prosecutor Jean Peters Baker sent the case back to IPD, saying there wasn’t enough evidence to charge.
Newly elected Prosecutor Melesa Johnson says the same.
“While we do believe abuse occurred, we cannot ethically pursue charges against someone unless we can prove beyond a reasonable doubt they specifically committed the crime," the prosecutor's spokesperson said.
Remi is in the custody of his dad, Malaki Neagles.
Remi’s mother, who we’ll call Laura, gets supervised visits. Laura’s boyfriend, who we’ll call Devin, is barred from any contact with Remi. We’re not naming them because they haven’t been charged in this case.
"It’s been a process," Neagles said. "It’s definitely been something that has been weighing on us."
We've obtained all the records associated with the case because the case has been deemed closed. Those records include IPD’s case file, which includes body-worn camera footage, police interviews and the Missouri Department of Social Services Children's Division redacted case file.
We're going to lay out the timeline from the day of the 911 call on June 18, 2024.
The stories
Around 7:41 p.m. on June 17, Laura and Devin called 911, saying Remi was limp and had stopped breathing.
An Independence police officer was dispatched to the Executive Inn Motel, where the group was staying that night.
Laura's mom and her boyfriend were also at the scene. They had just returned to the motel after Laura called them in a panic.
We're blurring all their faces in this story because they haven't been charged.
From the officer's body cam point-of-view, we can see him approaching Laura and Devin, who were standing outside of the motel watching as paramedics held Remi in the parking lot, performing life-saving measures.
The officer is heard asking, "So your other child was playing with him?"
Devin started to speak and Laura interrupted, saying, "She was trying to cuddle, but she's only 2, so she don't understand the concept that she cannot lay on him. And she ended up laying on him."
Laura and Devin told police they were in the shower together while Remi and Laura's toddler were asleep on the bed in their motel room. They said Remi was fussy and crying, so Devin got out of the shower to prop up a bottle for him, then went back to the shower.
They said that happened twice. They also said Remi all of a sudden stopped crying, so Devin got out of the shower a third time to find the toddler lying on top of Remi.
The officer on the scene asked them how long the toddler had been on top of Remi.
"No longer than 20, 30 seconds," Devin answered. "Soon as I heard him stop crying, I hopped out the bathroom."
However, according to the police report, medical staff at Children's Mercy Hospital said Laura and Devin's story didn't match what they were seeing, and the toddler could not have caused Remi's severe injuries.
The police report noted the couple didn’t call 911 for at least 10 minutes after they noticed Remi was unresponsive.
Almost immediately, the investigation focused on Laura and Devin as the main suspects.
They went to IPD for a formal interview with Det. Desiree Campbell on June 24, six days after Remi was rushed to the hospital.
"That fracture is just confusing to me," Devin told Campbell.
Both offered up a few scenarios for how Remi could have gotten those injuries.
Devin guessed maybe it was from CPR and chest compressions, or maybe from Remi's birth. He said "driving stupidly" could also be the cause.
Laura told the detective she thought maybe they swaddled Remi too tightly, but the doctors told her there's no way that could have caused his injuries.
"My daughter was laying on top of him, and she's like 36 pounds compared to a six-pound child," Laura told the detective. "I was like, 'Could that have done anything?'"
But Laura said the doctors informed her the injuries happened within the past week.
Devin told the detective Remi’s head looked like it was getting bigger in the days leading up to his hospitalization.
Both said Remi was fussier in those days leading up, but they thought he just might be colicky.
"It’s a lot and it’s heartbreaking, 'cause like, who would do that?" Laura told the detective. "He's 7 weeks old. He cries, he eats, he goes to the bathroom. That's all he does."
Both Laura and Devin said they were suspicious of Laura's mom and boyfriend, who we'll call Misty and Kyle, because they were acting "defensive."
They told the detective Kyle usually got frustrated when the children cried, but he never did anything physical.
"I haven't been able to figure out how [the abuse] possibly happened, unless it happened whenever he was over with my mom," Laura told the detective.
According to the police reports, all four adults plus the two kids were living in a different motel room for a week prior to the Executive Inn. They all shared a car and were often together DoorDashing to make money.
Laura said sometimes her mom watched the kids while she and Devin went out on DoorDash orders.
Delay in calling 911
In Misty and Kyle's interviews with the detective, they talked about their suspicions of Devin, describing him as someone with anger issues who is controlling over Laura.
Misty outlined her recollection of the day Remi went to the hospital and Devin's alleged unwillingness to call 911.
That afternoon, Misty said she and Kyle were out DoorDashing in Laura's car. She got a text from Laura asking when they'd be back.
A short time later, as Misty and Kyle were on the way to deliver a DoorDash order, Laura called at 7:31 p.m.
"She called me panicking, asking where we were," Misty said. "I asked her, 'What's wrong?' She said, 'You need to get back here to the motel room.'"
Misty said she continued to ask what was wrong, and Laura turned on her cell phone camera to show Remi unresponsive.
She said she told Laura to call 911, canceled the DoorDash order, and started to drive back to Independence from Riverside. She told the detective it took about 10 minutes to get to the motel.
Misty said when they got there, another motel guest was performing CPR on Remi inside the motel room. The police report says this neighbor stated she was medically trained and intervened.
The 911 call didn't come in until 7:41 p.m., shortly after Misty said she and Kyle returned to the motel.
"[Devin] was being insistent that we pick all of them up and put the baby in the car and take the baby by car to the hospital," Misty said. "And I kept telling him when we got there, 'Call 911, call 911.'"
In her interview, Laura explained to the detective she was "freaking out so bad" and didn't know what to do.
"My brain wasn't processing to call 911," Laura said. "My mind was going 90. I broke down."
Focus narrows to 1 suspect
The detective narrowed her focus on Devin after at least two alleged instances of domestic violence between him and Laura that happened in July 2024, when Remi was still in the hospital.
An Independence Municipal Court judge recently decided Devin was guilty of domestic assault in one of those incidents, when he punched Laura in her face and dragged her by the hair, leaving multiple marks and scratches.
At that time, Laura and Devin were staying with Devin's brother and the brother's girlfriend in a house.
Devin was also found guilty of domestic assault when he punched his brother's girlfriend in the shoulder as she tried to intervene in the fight.
According to the case file, the other domestic violence incident happened in the Children’s Mercy parking garage, when Laura told hospital nurses Devin hit her and burned her with a lighter. She recanted her story, but the hospital still banned Devin from the premises.
Devin tried to refute this, claiming he’s Remi's dad — even though he isn’t. The police report also notes he tried to transfer Remi out of the hospital.
Missouri DSS continues investigation
At the end of August 2024, DSS sent a letter to Malaki Neagles, Remi's biological dad.
DSS determined Remi was "more likely than not" in Laura and Devin's care when the "purposeful" physical abuse happened. The letter said they "failed to obtain medical treatment for those injuries before his hospitalization," and it was not until Remi became unresponsive on June 18, 2024, that they sought emergency medical care.
A couple of months later, Det. Campbell acquired a video showing an off-camera argument between Devin and his brother, where Devin’s brother accuses him of abusing Remi. The brother's girlfriend recorded the video.
The brother is heard yelling, "That's why you beat that kid!" And Devin quickly responds, "That's why there are no charges."
In October, Campbell went to the house where they all lived to talk about the video as well as the previous domestic violence incident.
The detective captured the conversations on her body camera.
Laura said she didn't know anything about the video showing the argument between Devin and his brother.
"You were there, you would have heard it," the detective replied.
Laura said she was in the background packing clothes while the argument was taking place, so she wasn't paying attention to what was going on.
"Having that video, what it makes it sound is that you're covering for him and you're just lying to me," the detective told Laura.
Laura repeated she hadn't seen the video yet and wanted to give it to her attorney.
When the detective talked to Devin separately, she didn't ask him anything about the video.
Devin said he was frustrated with Remi's other side of the family accusing him and Laura of abuse on social media.
"All the false allegations, it's just on and on and on," Devin said. "Somebody hurt him, obviously, and we're trying to figure out who did it. And, obviously, no one's confessing."
The detective also talked to the brother's girlfriend, who said she heard Laura say Devin was the one who abused Remi. The detective noted in the police report those accusations were never documented in a text or recorded.
By the end of October 2024, the prosecutor declined charges.
That's where the case stands today.
Fighting for Remi
Remi's family — Neagles, Alberson and other close relatives — are doing anything they can to move it forward.
"We'll never quit," Alberson said.
Alberson recently went to an Independence City Council meeting to demand answers.
He told the council the story of what happened to Remi, how the police department doesn't answer the family's calls, and their frustration with the lack of charges.
"All we've gotten as an explanation is, 'Since there were four adults living in a hotel room, we don't know who did it, so we can't charge any of them,'" Alberson told the city council. "That's not good enough for us."
We asked the Jackson County Prosecutor's Office what is missing in Remi's case that prevents the prosecutor from filing charges.
Jazzlyn Johnson, communications director, said in other child abuse cases where the office has been able to move forward with prosecution, there was evidence directly linking specific people to the case, whether from witness testimony, physical evidence or video footage.
"In this particular case, we do not have that crucial connection," Johnson said.
Johnson's statement continued to say: "Our commitment is to justice, and that includes ensuring that the right person is held accountable. The law requires we prove beyond a reasonable doubt who committed the crime. That standard exists not to protest abusers, but to protect the integrity of the system and prevent the horrifying injustice of convicting an innocent person, especially in cases involving children. When the evidence is unclear or conflicting, we are not turning a blind eye or shrugging off our responsibility. We are bound by the limits of the law and evidence before us."
Moving Forward
Through all the heartache and the frustration is a happy little boy.
"Just watching him grow from being in the hospital to now: standing, jumping, laughing," Neagles said. "It's a great feeling."
Celebrating his life after it almost ended a year ago is bittersweet.
But on that day, with all the presents, cake and love, it was just sweet.
"He definitely deserves it, though," Neagles said. "He's been through a lot this year."
Remi's family even asked for help from a specialized team, the State Technical Assistance Team, or STAT, which is under the DSS umbrella.
Prosecutor Johnson supports STAT's help. However, IPD told the 41 I-Team they don't need the help because the case is closed. We'll go more in-depth about that in a follow-up story.
KSHB 41 reached out to Laura's family court attorney, who said Laura will not comment at this time.
We've tried multiple ways to get in touch with Devin, but we have not heard back.
Anyone who suspects child abuse or neglect in Missouri should report it by calling the 24/7 hotline at 1-800-392-3738.
Anyone who suspects child abuse or neglect in Kansas should report it by calling the 24/7 hotline at 1-800-922-5330.
If there is an emergency, immediately call local law enforcement or dial 911.
—