Special prosecutors have been assigned for the case against an Osceola, IA man charged in Sullivan County with 2nd Degree Murder in the death of a child who was two years old when the child was in his care. Missouri Assistant Attorney General Milissa Pierce and Special Prosecutors Gregory Goodwin and Michael Schaffer are assigned to the case that charges 35-year-old Shane M. Stephenson. Stephenson was the boyfriend of the child’s mother when the incident is alleged to have occurred in October of 2017.
The probable cause statement indicates Stephenson admitted to dropping the child on multiple hard surfaces outside the home and then throwing the child into the house, landing on the linoleum floor, as well as other incidents in the home that followed.
In August of 2024, the child was found unresponsive in his home in Chillicothe. He was taken to the hospital and was pronounced dead.
The autopsy indicated the cause of death was due to a seizure resulting from non-accidental head injury. The Medical Examiner also concluded the death was the direct result of the injuries in 2017.