Olivia Jansen.Photo: Kansas City Police Department
A Kansas woman has been sentenced to 31 years in prison after pleading guilty to her role in killing her boyfriend’s 3-year-daughter in 2020.
On Nov. 3, Jacqulyn Kirkpatrick, 34, of Kansas City, pleaded guilty in Wyandotte County Court to one count of second-degree murder, one count of abuse of a child under the age of six and two counts of interference with a law enforcement officer in the death of Olivia Jansen, online court records show.
On July 10, 2020, the toddler was found in a shallow grave in her pajamas, showing signs of severe abuse, authorities said.
Before Olivia’s murder, her grandfather and step-grandmother worried about the girl’s welfare, and tried to get help.
“She was always so unhappy to go home,” Olivia’s step-grandmother, Elisabeth Jansen, told local stationKSHB. “She would frown and say, ‘You love me? You’re not mad at me? I come back? I come back?'”
On Monday, Kirkpatrick learned her fate when a judge in Wyandotte County Court handed down the sentence.
Olivia Jansen and Jacqulyn Kirkpatrick.
Kirkpatrick locked the toddler in a dog kennel and forced her to stand in a corner for long periods, prosecutors said during her plea hearing,Fox 4reports.
Other children in the home said they saw Kirkpatrick hit the toddler in the back of the head and push her into walls, Fox4 reports.
The horrific crime came to light on July 10, 2020, when Olivia’s father reported her missing.
Initially, Jansen told police he woke up at 5:30 a.m. and found a door in the house open — and his daughter nowhere to be found, police said at the time.
Hours after an Amber Alert was issued, Olivia’s body was found in a shallow grave in a wooded area near the home.
Olivia’s grandparents reached out to the Kansas Department for Children and Families for help prior to her death, KSHB reported.
“We called DCF … we knew it was bad but we didn’t know what we are learning now,” Elisabeth Jansen told KSHB.
Olivia Jansen.National Center for Missing & Exploited Children
In a statement addressing the child’s death in 2020, DCF Secretary Laura Howard said, “The Kansas City community should know that DCF has a comprehensive process for review of critical incidents in order to quickly identify any agency or contractor policy or procedural issue that needs to be addressed,” KSHB reported.
Jansen remains held in jail as he awaits trial, which is scheduled for May 2022, online court records show.
Kirkpatrick’s attorney did not immediately respond to PEOPLE’s request for comment.
source: people.com
