A tragic story comes out of St. Charles, Missouri after a couple was arrested for cooking methamphetamine in their home, but that's not the worst part of it. While they were cooking the drugs, their 2-year-old child died in another room.
At the time of the child’s death. Authorities say the couple ignored the child’s cries while they were on a weekend drug binge at their home.
At first, the cause of death was unknown, but now the authorities have determined following an autopsy that the boy died of hyperthermia. Just think the opposite of hypothermia. The boy got too hot and hit body temperature rose to an extremely high temperature and he died.
The boy was left alone in a room with a space heater running for over a day and a half without it being turned off. Exposure for such a period of time can lead to overheating and basically cooked the boy.
The mother, Kathleen Peacock discovered that the child was dead and ran to a neighbor’s home in the Elm Point Mobile Home Village. One of those neighbors ran to see if she could help. That neighbor said the child’s room was extremely hot.
An autopsy was conducted to determine the cause of the child’s death.
Peacock, and the father, Lucas R. Barnes, 25, are facing charges of child abuse and neglect and manufacturing meth.
Police say that Peacock is pregnant.
Relatives of the 2-year-old and neighbors in the Elm Point Mobile Home Village say they are devastated.
One relative says Braydon appeared malnourished recently. She had distanced herself from the child’s parents because she says they had a problem using drugs. She hopes the parents receive the maximum punishment if they are convicted.
Neighbors say they too had distanced themselves from the couple. Christopher Garcia says his girlfriend ran into the child’s trailer after the little boy’s mother started shouting for help. She says it felt like more than 100 degrees in the boys’ room.
“I just know that baby is in a better place. He was innocent. He was the most innocent most pure human being that could have happened. So you know he’s an angel in heaven right now. I’d like to believe that.” said neighbor Christopher Garcia.
“This is such a tragic event that’s happened. I think if more people knew of our services. Knew that we are here and available and didn’t have that fear of using us. We would see more use of the nursery.” said Jill Kneemiller of the St. Louis Crisis Nursery.
Relatives of the family say they want people to know there are other children who may be in the same situation and are in need of help. They hope they’ll get help before another innocent life is lost.
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