Background: The Greene County Jail in Springfield, Missouri (Greene County Sheriff's Office). Inset: Courtney Lynn Box (Greene County Jail).
A woman in Missouri is accused of leaving her three babies alone for more than a day until one of the kids repeatedly banged his head on a wall.
Courtney Lynn Box, 29, is charged with three counts of first-degree endangering the welfare of a child creating substantial risk, as well as abuse or neglect of a child, according to court records reviewed by Law&Crime. Jail records show that she was arrested on Saturday and placed under a $10,000 bond.
The case stretches back months, to Jan. 10, when officers with the Springfield Police Department were called at about 10:50 a.m. to a home to do a wellness check. A witness had called 911 saying "she had been hearing banging and sounds of a small child for 7 hours," per a probable cause statement filed in court.
The caller also said she saw a woman with a baby move into the apartment in question the day before "but there was not currently a vehicle in the assigned parking spot," and when the witness knocked on the door, there was no answer. Arriving officers noted they themselves could "hear the banging."
However, police could not see inside, and they asked the Springfield Fire Department to help by placing a ladder up to a window to look through it. When authorities peered in, they saw "a small child sitting at the top of the stairs banging their head against the wall," according to the probable cause statement.
Box had apparently left her twins — who were around 1 year old — and a 3-month-old child alone in the apartment, which had "little to no furniture."
Firefighters entered the residence through an unlocked kitchen window and found the three kids in diapers "so soiled that feces and urine were leaking out all sides," per the court document. One child was still at the top of the stairs, while his twin was "on the main level" of the multilevel duplex, and the youngest was "in an infant bouncy style seat."
The children's diapers were changed, revealing that all three of them had "extensive diaper rash." The boy at the top of the stairs "had a head injury" and one eye was swollen from the banging.
In the kitchen, officers found a "small baggie with a crystal-like residue on top of the baby formula" and a bong nearby. At this point, investigators learned Box had rented the apartment and was the mother of the kids, though they could not reach her.
Authorities gave the children something to drink and bread "to snack on," and the kids "ate and drank very quickly," leading officers to believe "they were extremely hungry." The kids were then taken to a nearby hospital to be evaluated.
A child services investigator was finally able to get through to Box, who told him "she was out shopping for her birthday" and left the children with someone else. However, the investigator believed the defendant was gone longer than she said.
The investigator got a search warrant for Box's phone and learned that she was using her cellphone during the more than 24 hours that her kids were alone. He also allegedly found messages from the day before in which she talked about drugs and having "sexual relations" with a man for $150.
The cellphone records also allegedly revealed that after the children were taken into custody, Box searched "child endangerment."
At another point that day, Box seemed to be venting her frustration over the other person not watching her children.
"[H]ad someone I thought I could trust watch my kids and they left my kids alone and [the child] was loud enough someone called a noise complaint while I was out on my birthday," she reportedly wrote. "[L]aw enforcement took my kids and put them into children's protective custody and now my cousins husbands parents have my kids and they want a p— test and a hair follicle from me."
"[T]hey said they could keep me from seeing my kids I'm so f—ed," she went on, per the probable cause statement. "I f—ing failed my kids and the b— who was watching my kids won't respond to me and I can't find her anywhere."
Medical personnel continued caring for the children, and though they were too young to be interviewed, authorities noted that "all three children displayed history and behavior consistent with child maltreatment." Inside the home, there were "inadequate safety precautions in place" enabling the boy to climb the stairs, where he could have fallen.
"This banging was so alarming that a concerned neighbor was awoken by the sound and called 911," the court document goes on. The lack of "any type of nutrition" also could have been fatal for the youngest child given their age, and none of the kids were old enough to escape or call for help, authorities said.
Authorities then put it bluntly: "Box also chose to leave her children unattended and in unsafe conditions, so she could use drugs and engage in other activities."
The defendant is scheduled to appear in court on July 29.
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