Jul 29, 2021

Mother of 5-month-old killed in Gower now charged

Posted Jul 29, 2021 3:12 PM
Huntsman photo Clinton Co. Jail
Huntsman photo Clinton Co. Jail

By BRENT MARTIN

St. Joseph Post

The mother of a northwest Missouri five-month-old who died in February has been charged with endangering the welfare of a child for not reporting the suspected abuse.

Thirty-three-year-old Emily Huntsman faces two felony abuse charges.

The father of Jaxon Ray Livingston is charged with killing the child.

Law enforcement responded to a home in Gower on February 12th to find Jaxon unresponsive. Doctors at Children’s Mercy Hospital in Kansas City reported the infant suffered from abusive head trauma.

His father, 24-year-old Dillon Livingston, claimed the boy was injured when he rolled out of a recliner. Later, Livingston confessed during an interview with the Missouri Children’s Division he had handled the baby too forcefully when he became fussy, according to the probable cause statement.

Livingston faces a second-degree murder charge in the death.

Now, Huntsman has been charged with endangering the welfare of a child. Investigators accuse Huntsman of observing bruises on the infant and the infant’s twin prior to the death. Authorities accuse Huntsman of failing to report the abuse, which she first observed in November of last year.