Law&Crime Sidebar - Mom’s Shocking Excuse for Not Feeding Toddler for 35 Hours

Episode Date: March 10, 2025

A Missouri toddler, just a few months away from his second birthday, died of dehydration, after his mother allegedly didn’t feed him for more than 30 hours. Alyssa Wehmeyer is facing a charge of child abuse or neglect resulting in death. Law&Crime’s Jesse Weber spoke with criminal defense attorney and former prosecutor Josh Corman about the disturbing case.Binge all episodes of SCAM FACTORY early and ad-free on Wondery+ by clicking our link https://Wondery.fm/LC-ScamFactory HOST:Jesse Weber: https://twitter.com/jessecordweberLAW&CRIME SIDEBAR PRODUCTION:YouTube Management - Bobby SzokeVideo Editing - Michael Deininger, Christina O'Shea & Christina FalconeScript Writing & Producing - Savannah Williamson & Juliana BattagliaGuest Booking - Alyssa Fisher & Diane KayeSocial Media Management - Vanessa BeinSTAY UP-TO-DATE WITH THE LAW&CRIME NETWORK:Watch Law&Crime Network on YouTubeTV: https://bit.ly/3td2e3yWhere To Watch Law&Crime Network: https://bit.ly/3akxLK5Sign Up For Law&Crime's Daily Newsletter: https://bit.ly/LawandCrimeNewsletterRead Fascinating Articles From Law&Crime Network: https://bit.ly/3td2IqoLAW&CRIME NETWORK SOCIAL MEDIA:Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lawandcrime/Twitter: https://twitter.com/LawCrimeNetworkFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/lawandcrimeTwitch: https://www.twitch.tv/lawandcrimenetworkTikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@lawandcrimeSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

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will keep you on the edge of your seat. Don't let your fears take hold of you as you dive into this addictive series. Love thrillers with a paranormal twist? The entire Oracle trilogy is available on Audible. Listen now on Audible. Go get grateful. Cookie. A Missouri toddler just a few months away from his second birthday died of dehydration after his mother allegedly didn't feed him for more than 30 hours. And that wasn't the only abuse little cult allegedly suffered in his final days. And you won't believe the excuse the suspect allegedly gave to police for why she reportedly didn't provide her son with the most basic needs. We're going to take a closer look at this absolutely horrific case and the consequences the defendant could face. Welcome to Sidebar,

Presented by Law and Crime, I'm Jesse Weber. His service was held in Missouri over the weekend for Colt Atlas Keeney, a one-year-old found dead at the end of February. And his mother, 21-year-old, Alyssa Weymire, was arrested a few days later, charged with one count of abuse of a child or neglect of a child resulting in death. Right now, she's locked up in jail in a $100,000 bond. So to talk about what led up to this arrest or more, I want to bring in criminal defense attorney, former prosecutor, Josh Corman, Josh, thanks so much for coming on. I have to imagine that in your experience, your practice, the cases involving children, the cases involving alleged child abuse or child abuse are the most difficult to prosecute,

right? For sure, both the physical abuse and sexual abuse, but anything involving a kid, I think it's difficult for everybody for both the attorneys, the prosecutors, and certainly the juries who end up hearing these cases. Yeah, and I think that there's an incentive to try to make sure it doesn't go to trial, which we'll talk about maybe a little bit later. But look, let's talk about Colt. 20 months old, he would have turned two this summer,

and instead his family's mourning is lost. Died on February 28th. Probable cause affidavit that was filed in this case kind of gives us an idea of what this toddler went through. The victim's name is redacted from the document, but family members have confirmed that it was Colt that died. But the affidavit indicates that an autopsy was performed to figure out exactly how Colt died.

The document states, At the conclusion, it was determined that the possible cause of death was dehydration. They informed me Colt was dehydrated and they found very little evidence of food in the stomach. So, Josh, how important is it for an autopsy in a case like this? Well, it's huge because at the end of the day, you know, the state, the government's going to have to establish the cause of death. And in this situation, you know, the medical examiner is going to have to come testify. He's going to have to say what, in fact, was the cause of death. So the way that it's been worded so far, I think, is a little bit troublesome.

But as you said, the facts of what the medical examiner is going to testify to about the lack of food in the stomach, dehydration, I think we can all just use our own common sense to think about, oh, my guess, you know, a 20-month-old child with no food in their stomach and, you know, dehydrated to the point that it looks like the death may be, in fact, caused just by a lack of getting a bottle or getting any kind of nutrition. pretty disturbing to say the least. But look, after that autopsy was done on March 3rd, 2025, the Cape Giridoux Police Department requested the Missouri State Highway Patrol's Division of Drug and Crime Control to investigate this death. And Waymire came in for an interview, was read her Miranda rights, saying she understood them, signed a waiver to that effect. But the affidavit says, I asked Waymire to detail what occurred. Waymire informed me that Colt last eight on February 26, 2025 at approximately 1,700 to 1,800 hours. So that's between 5 and 6 p.m. on that Wednesday. On February 27th, 2025, between 1730 and 1800 hours, she changed his diaper and put him to bed.

She informed us that she put Colt to bed at approximately 1830 hours. At this time, it had been roughly 24 hours since Colt had eaten. And Weymire informed us that on February 28th, 2025 at approximately 200 hours, Colt woke up for crying. She held him for 30 to 40 minutes, then laid him back down in bed. She stated that on February 28, 2025, at around 1,300 hours, she went to check on him and noticed his lips were blue and he wasn't breathing. Now, the autopsy noted that Colt had other injuries to his body, and this is significant. Quote, I asked Weymire about the severe blisters on Colt's buttocks from diaper rash.

Waymire informed us that it had been nearly 19 hours since she had changed his diaper. After speaking with Waymire, it was determined that Colt hadn't eaten in over 36 hours and was in his crib unattended for nearly 19 hours. So he hadn't eaten in over 30 hours, some by the way, some outlets like The New York Post are reporting it may have actually been longer, closer to the 40 hours or more hours. Josh, that is a whole other level of disturbing and it also makes it incredibly difficult to defend some actions, which we're going to get into as well about, what her excuse might have been or alleged excuse, but that is really a different level of abuse here or alleged abuse. I mean, it really is. It comes down to not just neglect, but it really is abusive.

When you think about a child and, you know, we can all imagine a scenario where a child's in their crib and they're crying and screaming for any kind of attention or help or food or a bottle or something and for sounds like almost an entire day, a 24 hour day, this child is in they're crying probably to the point where if he died of dehydration to the point where there were no tears left. So those are the kind of facts that you can imagine in front of a jury pulling at the heartstrings and just, I mean, it's almost unfathomable when you think about what that child would have had to go through leading up to his death. Hey, by the way, quick sidebar from sidebar for a second. I want you to imagine this. You help your little brother land a great job

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So follow Scam Factory on the Wondery app wherever you get your podcast. You can binge all episodes of Scam Factory early and add free right now by joining Wondery Plus or by going to our link in the description and pinned in the comments. And let's get into what the defendant, Ms. Weymire, told investigators how this happens. So, quote, Waymire informed us that she should have taken Colt to the doctor on the 27, then should have changed his diaper more regularly, but she had a migraine. waymire stated she had taken three accedrin and laid down for a nap while at home alone at one point during the interview waymire informed us that she didn't contact anyone to seek medical treatment regarding malnutrition or the severe diaper rash so josh i think about this and you say well maybe she was overwhelmed maybe it was a mistake it was an accident but is it the idea of recognizing that she didn't do what she needed to do and didn't seek the appropriate care or assistance that's What separates this case from, you know, a pure accident into a crime?

Well, I think the time period certainly does, right? It just exacerbates everything when you think about how long that this child was alone. This child went without any kind of food or a bottle or anything. At the same time, though, I can't imagine that this is a scenario where just that time period alone is what caused the child's death. I can't imagine that this is a situation that was a one-off. from what I have kind of gleaned off social media or comments or something, it sounds like there had been investigation going on before, maybe not criminal investigation,

but certainly something where children's services had been involved in this. So while it's certainly the mother's responsibility, and she's the one who's criminal responsible, I think this is a situation where it sounds like there were other people that let this child down. Obviously, there was a father to this child, there were other family members, and there's children's services who, it sounds like,

had been notified of this and everyone basically failed his child. Now, you talk about social media. So Colt's grandfather posted about Colt's death on Facebook saying, I'm going to make this post in regards to the death of my grandson. I am not going to post or comment on anything other than what is public record. This is for everyone that wants to hope for the best of their child but has seen the signs of neglect or abuse. Please follow up on the signs.

Go to the authorities. There is so much guilt of what anyone could have done different to have a different outcome of this situation. He was loved by so many and had so many of us that would have done anything to help or change the end result. We were going to get justice for Colt Atlas Keeney and have to believe in the broken system we have in the state as hard as it is, but everyone needs to know and be aware of what has taken place. Also respect the family members that did not make these choices but reflect on them. They did their best also. And the probable cause affidavit noted that waymire had no known criminal history. So Josh, how does that all affect things? You hear that

statement, not entirely sure what to make of it. It's heartbreaking to say the least, but also she apparently had no known criminal history. Does that affect the analysis? I think it does. I think it's going to affect how her attorney is going to defend this and it's going to affect somewhat how the prosecutor is going to, I guess, negotiate this. I think given her age, I guess it's not completely shocking that she didn't have a criminal history, which is a positive thing. the other social factors, I guess we will find out later on as far as if this was something where there was any kind of mental health problems, if there had been other medical issues with the child or what was going on as far as custody and visitation and who else

had access and who else had cared for this child. By the way, there are reports on social media talking about it that Waymire worked as a jailer in the same county where she's charged, but we weren't able to confirm that 100%, but maybe that's why she's incarcerated or locked up right now in Scott County instead of Cape Jerodoo County. She is due back in court on March 17 for a bond review hearing. Our research indicates that this is a Class A felony that she's facing, which is incredibly serious under Missouri law. Now, when you look at Class A felonies, our understanding is that carries between 10 and 30 years in prison. When you look at the statute, it appears there might be a minimum of 15 years.

couldn't get a total confirmation on that, but clearly she would be looking at significant prison time if she ends up going to trial and loses, which makes me wonder, Josh, is this the type of case that prosecutors want to take to trial? You mentioned how difficult it will be for a jury to hear all of this. And what would be a potential defense that could be mounted at trial? Well, that's a great question. And I think those are the things that everyone's going to be talking about that on both sides, whether the Cape Girardro prosecutor, they brought in the Missouri Highway Patrol, which is typical in Missouri when you have a murder case or a serious felony, some of the smaller jurisdictions instead of using their own local law enforcement,

they will call in the Highway Patrol, and that's kind of the head investigation agency in Missouri. So given whatever came out of their investigation, as well as the medical records, like we said, I think there may be somewhat of an issue with the medical examiner and the autopsy report. And then just her own background, social background, mental health background, all those things I think are going to play into how this case ends up getting disposed of, whether there's a plea agreement worked out or whether this is one where the prosecutor decides, hey, this is a great case that I want to go in front of a jury. And I want a jury to hear this and make the decision. Because what would a deal look like? I mean, what would it look like in a case like this

if she's facing potentially double digits, you know, 10, 15 years of prison? Well, in other places, would essentially be a murder case, you know, child abuse involving a murder. In my jurisdiction, that would be a first-degree murder, felony murder. In Missouri, it's 10 to 30 to life as the possible punishment she's facing. So those are always going to be considerations that any defense attorney is going to be making, especially when you have a sympathetic victim like a child who was starved and dehydrated. How does a defense attorney even pick a jury for this? I mean, what kind of jurors would you want? Because just on the face of it, you, uh, you, uh, a parent or guardian of some kind who was accused of abusing or neglecting a child that results

in their death, that's a headline, that's a title, that's a synopsis, that's very hard to get past. What kind of jurors do defense attorneys look for here? That's a great question. I mean, I think when you think about parents, right, obviously parents and anyone is going to be very sympathetic to the situation that the child was in. Otherwise, parents, I think, are also maybe somewhat understanding, and I don't mean understanding as being sympathetic to her, but understanding of how a parent could get to

that position, could get to a place where they are no longer helping their child, where, again, I know her, the excuse that we've seen was that she had a headache, but I don't know if she had gotten to a point where she had just mentally checked out or if, again, if she did have mental health problems

or if there was no one else helping her, like how she actually got to that point is certainly something as a defense attorney that I would want to know. And those are things that I think during Guadier would be kind of played out into that jury to try to see what kind of sympathetic jurors you could get. We obviously don't have all the circumstances here, but have you seen a case before that's presented to a jury? The facts would establish that the person is guilty of the crime of abuse or neglect of a child. But because of the circumstances surrounding that parent, the jury

is so sympathetic that they ultimately render a not guilty verdict. Sometimes, you know, kind of like a jury nullification situation. Again, I don't know the full circumstances here, but I wonder if the defense attorney is saying, listen, this is a mother, she's going through a lot. Have you seen anything like that before? You know, I think getting a not guilty verdict is very difficult, but oftentimes as a defense attorney, you might be going in to get a compromise verdict where, you know, multiple jurors cannot agree on whether it's guilty or not guilty, but they can compromise on some kind of a lesser included offense. And that's obviously something that I think any defense attorney would be fighting for in a case like this to try to mitigate basically the damage that you have for your

client? It's just an incredibly sad case. I mean, you think about he was about to turn to you said it before what he went through, not being fed. It's just, it's heartbreaking. It is so disturbing to say the least. And unfortunately, we're just seeing a lot of these cases one after the other. And I, you know, I don't even know what to make of it. But Josh, I, I appreciate you taking the time talking about this, and we will see which way this goes. But thank you so much, Josh Korman. Thanks for having me. All right, everybody.

That's all we have for you right now here on Sidebar. Thank you so much for joining us. And as always, please subscribe on YouTube, Apple, Podcast, Spotify, wherever you get your podcasts. I'm Jesse Weber. I'll speak to you next time. binge all episodes of this long crime series, ad free right now on Wondery Plus. Join Wondery Plus in the Wondery app, Apple Podcasts, or Spotify.