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Update on Kraig Monroe

March 5^th, 2010, 3:00 PM

Update on the Kraig Monroe (Aggravated Battery to a Child) investigation:

• The St. Clair County State’s Attorney’s Office has taken the charges against the victim’s mother under advisement and she has been released from the St. Clair County Jail.  Sheriff’s Investigators are working closely with the State’s Attorney’s Office to follow up on further investigation related to her involvement.
• The St. Clair County State’s Attorney’s Office issued a search warrant for Kraig Monroe’s residence to be further processed by Illinois State Police Crime Scene.  ISP and Sheriff’s Investigators are at the residence now (110 Princeton Drive, Belleville) conducting that search warrant.
• The mother was issued and served with an Order of Protection issued through St. Clair County Courts to prevent contact with the child. 
• This morning I, along with Sheriff Mearl Justus, Sgt. Dan Stockett, Inv. Scott Toth and Capt. Don Sax (Belleville) participated in a conference call with Illinois Department of Children and Family Services Supervisors and the case agent.  “DCFS was very concerned and everyone who participated in the conference call agreed it was a productive meeting towards changing procedures and improving communications between DCFS and Law Enforcement,” said Capt. Steve Johnson.  Further meetings and possible policy changes by DCFS were also discussed.
• Kraig Monroe remains in the St. Clair County Jail with a $500,000.00 bond.

----------------------------------------------------------

Capt. Steve Johnson
Chief Investigator
St. Clair County Sheriff's Department
700 North 5th Street
Belleville, IL 62220

'How can you describe it other than hell?' Man charged in beating of 2-year-old girl

BY JACQUELINE LEE - News-Democrat

Police have a St. Clair County man in custody after a 2-year-old girl was beaten so badly that she may have to eat from a feeding tube for the rest of her life.

Kraig A. Monroe, 24, of 110 Princeton Drive near Belleville, was charged Wednesday with aggravated battery to a child.

Monroe was watching his girlfriend's daughter while the girlfriend was at work, said St. Clair County Sheriff's Department Capt. Steve Johnson.

County Sheriff's Department Capt. Steve Johnson talks about the charges against Kraig A. Monroe, 24, of unincorporated Belleville. Monroe was charged Wednesday with aggravated battery of a child. - Zia Nizami/BND

Man charged in beating of two year old. Fox 2 video

 

St. Clair County man charged in connection with beating 2-year-old girl

 

News-Democrat

Police have a man in custody after a 2-year-old girl was beaten so badly that she will only be able to eat from a feeding tube for the rest of her life.

Kraig A. Monroe, 24, of unincorporated Belleville was charged Wednesday with aggravated battery of a child.

Monroe was watching his girlfriend's toddler daughter while the girlfriend was at work, said St. Clair County Sheriff's Department Capt. Steve Johnson.

Kraig A. Monroe - Provided/BND

Over the course of several days, Monroe is accused of punching the baby in the stomach to silence her crying, Johnson said.

The girl was vomiting and going in and out of consciousness when she was taken to Memorial Hospital about 10 a.m. Monday. By 4 p.m. that day, the girl, who was in critical condition, was transported to Cardinal Glennon Hospital in St. Louis.

On Thursday, she underwent surgery to remove her bowels and her intestines. If she survives, she will be on a feeding tube the rest of her life, Johnson said.

The girl also suffered from various other injuries: a broken leg, a broken arm and clumps of hair had been pulled out from her head.

Monroe is being held at the St. Clair County Jail on $500,000 bail.

The girl's mother also has been taken into custody, though she has not been charged, Johnson said.

Daughter of 'Jane Doe' learns about mother; killer 'could still be out there,' she says

BY BETH HUNDSDORFER AND GEORGE PAWLACZYK - News-Democrat

Katie found and lost her mother in one day.

Katie is the daughter of Summerfield's "Jane Doe," who was strangled and left in a cornfield outside the small village. She remained unidentified for more than 21 years until in January 2008 an FBI fingerprint recheck revealed she was 27-year-old Eulalia Pholia Mylia Chavez Wilcomer.

"I was at work and I waited until I got home and I Googled it," said Katie, who asked that only her first name be used to protect her and her adopted family. "I was like, 'Oh, my God!' So I found out who she was and that she was murdered in the same day."

A 1983 police photo of Eulalia Pholia Mylia Chavez Wilcomer. - Provided/BND

Katie, now 32, learned the name of her mother, who gave her up for adoption in California when she was an infant, from her mother's high school friend in 2008, then learned through a computer search that her mother was found in an Illinois cornfield near a small town called Summerfield, strangled, mutilated and unidentified for decades.

The news of her mother's murder brought fear, said Katie.

Mother, two young boys drown overnight in lake on Loehr Road

News-Democrat

Two children and an adult woman drowned overnight in a St. Clair County lake, according to Capt. Steve Johnson.

The bodies of Kathy Baxmeyer, 40, of unincorporated Waterloo, her son, Kadin Baxmeyer, 7, and family friend Steven (Austin) Baum, 6, of Waterloo, were recovered Saturday morning from a lake on the Baxmeyer's residence on Loehr Road.

"Although initial indications and evidence point to a tragic accident where three people fell through ice and drowned, we are in the process of conducting a thorough death investigation," Johnson said.

Steven's mother reported her son missing shortly after midnight after repeated attempts to reach Kathy Baxmeyer's cell phone were unsuccessful.

It was Kadin's seventh birthday and Kathy Baxmeyer was supposed to the take the two boys to the movies to celebrate.

When deputies began investigating, they found boots and gloves near a lake close to the Baxmeyer's home. A police dog tracked the smell from the clothing into the lake, where a hole through the ice was visible.

Smithton, Hecker and Swansea fire departments responded.

The bodies were recovered from 12-foot-deep water after crews spent several hours diving.

All three drowning victims were pronounced dead between 3:30 and 4:30 a.m. by Preston Becker, St. Clair County Preston Becker. The bodies were transported to St. Elizabeth's Hospital in Belleville for autopsies.

"This is a sad reminder of the dangers of children and ice-covered lakes," Johnson said. "Our hearts go out to the victims' families."

Man nabbed by K-9 dog while trying to elude police

BY JENNIFER BOWEN - News-Democrat

 

An East St. Louis man with an outstanding warrant from St. Louis parked his car in the middle of the street early Monday and tried to outrun a sheriff's deputy and his K-9 partner.

St. Clair County Sheriff's Deputy Justin Biggs spotted a silver Chevrolet Lumina parked in the middle of 54th Street near Caseyville Avenue in Washington Park around 2:30 a.m. Monday. The car was turned off and had no lights on. Biggs could see two people sitting in the car, according to the police report.

Biggs was patrolling with his K-9 partner, Jesse, and when he pulled up behind the vehicle the driver turned the car on, turned on the lights and started to drive away.

Bezell Lee. - Provided/BND

The car pulled up to a stop sign where the driver jumped out and fled, said St. Clair County Sheriff's Capt. Steven Johnson. Because there was a second person still in the vehicle, Biggs called for assistance and Deputy Kevin Kocurek arrived to help. The passenger in the car yelled at Biggs and told him the man on foot was carrying a gun, according to the report.

Law Enforcement Task Force in East St. Louis Making a Difference

 

EAST ST. LOUIS, IL (KTVI - FOX2now.com) - A violent crime task force crack down is paying off in East St. Louis. The task force, called WAVE, "Working Against Violent Elements" is made up of members of the United States Marshal's Service, the East St. Louis Police Department, the Metropolitan Enforcement Group of Southwestern Illinois (MEGSI), the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the St. Clair County Sheriff's Department. WAVE made three more arrests Tuesday night in 800 block of 71st while coming under gunfire; just the latest arrests in a dramatic three month turn-around in East St. Louis crime since WAVE started its work.

St. Clair County Jail gets new fingerprint system to prevent the wrong inmate from being released on bond

BY BETH HUNDSDORFER - News-Democrat

It all started with a T-shirt.

It ended with a $17,000 fingerprint system, added security measures for the St. Clair County Jail, an injured Texas trooper, a 30-day suspension for a corrections officer and a three-year prison sentence for the T-shirt's owner.

Darryln K. Byrd, 44, pleaded guilty on Wednesday to aiding the escape of a relative, Elijah Muhammad, who was in the St. Clair County Jail on home invasion and aggravated assault charges. Byrd gave Muhammad his "Curt Smith" T-shirt, police said, then posed as Byrd when someone posted his $100 bond and walked out of jail.