Jefferson City, MO – Attorney General Chris Koster announced today that a Clay County jury found Rebecca Matthews, 28, of Richmond, guilty of eleven felony counts — one count of abuse of a child resulting in death, three counts of abuse of a child, and seven counts of endangering the welfare of a child in the first degree.Matthews’ convictions related to her abuse and neglect of her three-week-old daughter, eight-month old son and five-year old daughter.The baby died August 17, 2012, as a result of blunt force trauma to her chest and abdomen, which lacerated her heart and liver. Doctors determined after the death of the baby that she had multiple fractured ribs that were in various stages of healing. Doctors testified at trial that the numerous fractures to the infant’s ribs were consistent with the infant being squeezed.Matthews was convicted of endangering the welfare of a child in the first degree for failing to get medical care for the baby when she stopped breathing after her ribs were fractured. Matthews was also convicted of acting alone or in concert with Dennis Matthews, her husband, for:· Abusing her five-year-old daughter by hitting her and causing bruises.· Abuse of a child for breaking the arm of her eight-month-old son.· Three counts of endangering the welfare of a child in the first degree for leaving her five-year-old daughter, 23-month-old daughter, and eight-month-old son in a vehicle where temperatures were over 100 degrees.· Three counts of endangering the welfare of a child in the first degree for failing to provide her children with adequate milk, formula, or food, causing malnutrition.“This was an appalling case that reminds us how vulnerable children are to the people responsible for taking care of them,” Koster said. “My hope is that the children who survived this horrific start to their lives will now be cared for by loving, responsible adults.”The surviving children are currently in foster care.Matthews will be sentenced on May 25, 2015, and faces the possibility of a life sentence on abuse of a child resulting in death, and the possibility of an additional 70 years on the additional 10 counts.The case was heard by the Honorable Larry Harman in Clay County on a change of venue from Ray County. The case was investigated by the Richmond Police Department.Matthews still faces trial on three additional counts of endangering the welfare of a child in the first degree for putting her children at risk by not properly caging the reptiles in her Richmond, Missouri, home, which included alligators, savannah monitor lizards, large pythons and boa constrictors.Co-defendant Dennis Matthews, of Richmond, Missouri, faces trial on September 26, 2016, in Clay County. Matthews is the father of the baby and the two younger children.Assistant Attorney General Julie Tolle prosecuted the case against Matthews.
