- Oct 17, 2011
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The parents of a 4-year-old Missouri girl allegedly killed by neighbours to remove a "demon" pleaded not guilty Monday to charges connected to the case.
Mary S. Mast, 29, and James A. Mast, 28, both of Lincoln, Missouri, were charged Thursday with felony child endangerment resulting in death and are jailed without bond. They don't yet have attorneys.
The couple's other children, a 2-year-old son and an infant, were placed in protective custody, Benton County Sheriff Eric Knox said in a news release.
Across-the-road neighbours Ethan Mast, 35, and Kourtney Aumen, 21, were charged last week with second-degree murder and other offences. Both are jailed without bond.
A probable cause statement from Benton County Sgt. Chris Wilson said the girl was already dead and had "severe purple bruising" over her body, along with ruptured blisters, when he was called to the home.
Knox said the girl's parents also had been beaten along with the 2-year-old. The infant was unharmed.
Still, Wilson asked James Mast "how he could let people do this to his family and he stated they were told (his wife) had a `Demon' inside her and her children would end up just like her if it was not taken care of," Wilson wrote in the probable cause statement.
Ethan Mast told investigators that he and Aumen used a leather belt to beat the girl on Dec. 19, the statement said. She was then taken to a pond behind the home where she was "dunked" in the water on a day when high temperatures were in the 40s.
Mary S. Mast, 29, and James A. Mast, 28, both of Lincoln, Missouri, were charged Thursday with felony child endangerment resulting in death and are jailed without bond. They don't yet have attorneys.
The couple's other children, a 2-year-old son and an infant, were placed in protective custody, Benton County Sheriff Eric Knox said in a news release.
Across-the-road neighbours Ethan Mast, 35, and Kourtney Aumen, 21, were charged last week with second-degree murder and other offences. Both are jailed without bond.
A probable cause statement from Benton County Sgt. Chris Wilson said the girl was already dead and had "severe purple bruising" over her body, along with ruptured blisters, when he was called to the home.
Knox said the girl's parents also had been beaten along with the 2-year-old. The infant was unharmed.
Still, Wilson asked James Mast "how he could let people do this to his family and he stated they were told (his wife) had a `Demon' inside her and her children would end up just like her if it was not taken care of," Wilson wrote in the probable cause statement.
Ethan Mast told investigators that he and Aumen used a leather belt to beat the girl on Dec. 19, the statement said. She was then taken to a pond behind the home where she was "dunked" in the water on a day when high temperatures were in the 40s.