Howard Jansen III and Olivia Jansen.Photo: Kansas City Police Department (2)
A Kansas man pleaded no contest to killing his 3-year-old daughter, whose body was found covered in bruises in a shallow grave in 2020, authorities said.
Howard Jansen III, 30, entered the plea on Feb. 11 to second-degree murder and other charges in connection to the death of his daughter, Olivia Jansen, the Wyandotte County District Attorney’s Office confirmed to PEOPLE.
In the plea agreement he reached with prosecutors, Jansen also pleaded no contest to three counts of aggravated endangerment of a child, one count of abuse of a child, and one count of interference with law enforcement, according to the DA’s office.
Prosecutors initially charged Jansen with of first-degree murder. His sentencing is scheduled for March 25, and he faces up to 29 years in prison.
Jansen’s girlfriend, Jacqulyn Kirkpatrick, 34, was sentenced for her role in Olivia’s death late last year.
On Nov. 3, 2021, Kirkpatrick pleaded guilty to one count of second-degree murder, one count of abuse of a child under the age of six and two counts of interference with a law enforcement officer in connection with Olivia’s death, online court records show.
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Kirkpatrick locked Olivia in a dog kennel and forced her to stand in a corner for long periods, prosecutors said during her plea hearing in December 2021,Fox 4reported.
She was sentenced to 31 years in prison on Dec. 20, 2021.
Olivia’s tragic demise came to light on July 10, 2020, when her father reported her missing.
After Jansen told police he woke up at 5:30 a.m. and couldn’t find his daughter anywhere, authorities issued an Amber Alert and launched a search.
Hours later, her body was found in a shallow grave in a wooded area near the family’s home in Kansas City.
Before Olivia’s murder, her grandfather and step-grandmother worried about the girl’s welfare and tried to get help.
“She was always so unhappy to go home,” Olivia’s step-grandmother, Elisabeth Jansen, told local stationKSHB. “She would frown and say, ‘You love me? You’re not mad at me? I come back? I come back?'”
Other children in the home said they saw Kirkpatrick hit the toddler in the back of the head and push her into walls, Fox4 reported.
Olivia’s grandparents reached out to the Kansas Department for Children and Families for help prior to her death, KSHB reported.
“We called DCF … we knew it was bad but we didn’t know what we are learning now,” Elisabeth Jansen told KSHB.
source: people.com
