The parents of a 4-year-old Missouri girl have been charged in connection to her death last week.
Mary Mast, 29, and James Mast, 28, were arrested in Stover, Missouri, on Christmas Eve, Benton County Sheriff Eric Knox said in apress release.
Mary is being charged with endangering the welfare of a child in the first degree resulting in death, as well as domestic assault in the first degree, the sheriff said.
James is also being charged with endangering the welfare of a child in the first degree resulting in death, as well as endangering the welfare of a child in the first degree resulting in serious physical injury.
The couple’s other children, an infant and a 2-year-old, have been placed in protective custody.
In the official press release, Knox said that the sheriff’s office had received many calls claiming that the 4-year-old’s “death and the surrounding circumstances” were the “actions of a cult” and that “there have been some references to God and demons.”
“When a crime of this magnitude occurs, it affects everyone in its aftermath from first responders to next of kin, community, church and beyond,” the press release stated. “This will continue to be an ongoing investigation as we wait for the medical examiner’s report and any further information we may be able to develop in time.”
On December 20, the sheriff’s office said that Benton County Dispatch was notified shortly before 1 a.m. about the 4-year-old’s death. In apress releaseat the time, Knox said that James told deputies “that his daughter had been beaten, submerged in a pond, then left to freeze on the bank before being taken back into the residence.”
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Mary and the couple’s 2-year-old son “were also beaten to a severe extent,” the sheriff’s office said, and were taken to Bothwell Regional Hospital.
The Mast’s neighbors, Ethan J. Mast, 35 and Kourtney T. Aumen, 21, were arrested at the time “pending multiple felony charges,” which included second-degree murder, according to ABC News' report.
According to Knox’s news release, it is believed that Ethan is not related to John and Mary, per multiple reports.
Ethan reportedly admitted to investigators to using a leather belt to beat the 4-year-old before dunking her in a pond behind the home.
It was not immediately clear if James, Mary, Ethan or Aumen have legal representation at this time.
source: people.com
