Missouri – A Missouri woman was arrested this week and charged with first-degree murder and feIony armed criminaI action in the death of her chiId. Prosecutors say the parent, 47-year-oId K. Roiy, was taken into custody after officers responded to a welfare check and found the victim, 16, dead inside the home. Thje mother was being held on a $1 million cash-only bond.
Police said friends of the victim called for a welfare check after they had not been able to reach him for several days. Officers went to the family’s house in Missouri shortly before 11 a.m. and reported detecting a strong, fouI odor when they entered. Inside, they found the teen deceased with multiple gunshot wounds and multiple stab wounds. The prosecutor later announced that the wounds constituted a homicide.
According to prosecutors, the parent told investigators she obtained a pistoI with the intent to kiII her so n and herseIf. Prosecuting Attorney McCuIIoch said the parent admitted she shot the victim, later identified as Karter, several times while he was sIeeping and then lay down beside him. She told police the boy called out “mommy, mommy” as she caressed him, and that she then retrieved a large bIade and stabbed him to make sure he would die. Those details were provided by the prosecutor in public statements to the media.
Responding officers and first investigators processed the scene and then moved to interview the mother after she was medically cleared. Local reports say she had been taken to a hospital earlier after prosecutors said she took numerous pills and sustained wounds to her arms that were believed to be self-inflicted; she was released from medical care and then arrested. Prosecutors said she confessed to the killing during interviews. Public reporting does not provide a complete transcript of those interviews; instead, officials summarized key admissions when announcing charges.
Criminal investigations in homicides of this type typically follow a set process: officers secure and document the scene, collect physical and forensic evidence, interview witnesses and potential suspects, and coordinate with the county prosecutor’s office on charging decisions. In this case, law enforcement collected evidence at the residence, including the suspected weapon or weapons, and coordinated with the prosecuting attorney before filing charges. The prosecutor’s office issued the charges after reviewing the facts investigators collected and statements attributed to Roy.
Prosecutors have publicly described the woman’s statements to police, but available news accounts do not show a full, verbatim interview or whether every investigatory step—such as the formal administration and waiver of Miranda warnings—was recorded in the public releases. Local news coverage quoted the prosecutor’s summary that the mother said she intended to kill both her son and herself, that she shot him while he slept and later stabbed him, and that she lay with him as he called for her. Those public summaries are the basis for the charges and for the prosecutor’s description of the case at this stage.
At this point the case is in the charging stage. The mother faces a first-degree murder charge, which under Missouri law carries severe penalties if she is convicted, and a separate armed criminal action count tied to the use of a weapon. Her condition at arrest and the circumstances of the incident will be subject to further investigation and to the formal discovery process if the case proceeds to trial. The prosecuting attorney’s office will release additional information through court filings and public statements as the investigation and prosecution continue.
Family members, neighbors and the broader community were left reeling by the fatality and the details released so far. Law enforcement asked anyone with information about the case to contact the local police department as detectives continue to gather evidence and prepare the matter for court. Further factual details, such as a full interview record, autopsy results, forensic reports and formal court filings, were not available in the public accounts reviewed for this article and will be necessary to fully document the sequence of events and the evidence supporting the charges.