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Mother charged with murder in deaths of her children

Posted at 7:44 PM, Jan 29, 2019
and last updated 2019-01-29 21:44:57-05

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LIBERTY, Mo. (KCTV/KSMO) — A Kearney woman is now facing two murder charges for the July 2018 deaths of her children who investigators say were left in a vehicle during extreme heat.

A Clay County grand jury charged Jenna M. Boedecker with two counts of second-degree murder, four counts of first-degree endangering the welfare of a child, felony domestic assault, felony armed criminal action and felony property damage.

Deputies said Boedecker originally said she found her children, 2-year-old Ireland Autumn Jane Ribando and infant Goodknight Beretta June Ribando, unresponsive outside a home in a rural area east of Kearney on July 4.

She took the children to a neighbor who called 911, but medical personnel declared them dead after responding to the call.

Investigators later learned Boedecker told detectives she put the girls in a Jeep so they wouldn’t hear her arguing with her husband the night before they were found and then briefly dozed off, leaving them outside.

The property damage and domestic assault charges passed down in the indictment stem from an incident late on July 3 when investigators said Boedecker threw a brick through the window of a pickup being driven by her husband before then hitting it with a Jeep she was driving as he was trying to leave.

Boedecker is being held on a $500,000 bond in the Clay County jail.