A four-month-old girl was rushed from a Jefferson City emergency room to a specialized pediatric unit in Columbia after doctors flagged injuries they said were consistent with child abuse — six fractured ribs, a broken left femur, a possible tibia fracture, and bruising across her face and chest. Her father, 23-year-old Noah Humphus, is now jailed without bond, accused of shaking and swinging the infant by her legs while she was in his care.
Police were called to MU Health Care Capital Region Medical Center on September 2 at 1:44 p.m. after an emergency room doctor reported suspected abuse, according to court filings cited by Front Page Detectives. The infant was transferred to University Hospital in Columbia for specialized pediatric care, a move that underscored how serious her condition was. As reported by WKRC, the child had been in Humphus's care while her mother was at work.
Doctors examining the infant noted that several of her rib fractures were already in older stages of healing — evidence, according to court filings, of injuries inflicted before the September 2 hospitalization. The child's injuries were described as being in various states of healing, pointing to a pattern rather than a single incident.
A Confession Demonstrated on a Doll
During questioning by Jefferson City police, Humphus was reportedly given a demonstration doll and showed officers how he had pulled the infant's legs while she lay on her back, admitting the motion may have broken her leg, and how he had swung her upside down by her legs. Per WKRC, he reportedly estimated he had abused the child between 10 and 20 times, and said he shook her twice a day.
The infant's mother told investigators she had repeatedly witnessed Humphus shake the baby when she was crying or hungry and had warned him to stop, according to the police affidavit. Humphus allegedly told her that being rough with children was normal in order to “toughen” them up — the same rationale he reportedly gave police.
Felony Charges Carry Steep Prison Exposure
Cole County prosecutors have charged Humphus with First-Degree Domestic Assault involving serious physical injury and Abuse of a Child involving serious physical or emotional injury, though WKRC's report lists the counts as child abuse with physical injury and child endangerment. Humphus was booked into the Cole County Jail without bond, with his initial court appearance scheduled for September 9.
Under Missouri Revised Statutes § 565.072, First-Degree Domestic Assault causing serious physical injury is a Class A felony, carrying a sentencing range of 10 to 30 years or life in prison, according to FindLaw. Separately, Missouri Revised Statutes § 568.060 bars anyone convicted of child abuse causing serious physical injury from probation or parole until they have served at least one year in prison, per Justia Law.
Open Questions and a Broader Pattern
It remains unclear whether prosecutors will scrutinize the mother's own delay in seeking medical help, given her admission that she had repeatedly witnessed the alleged shaking. The long-term medical prognosis for the four-month-old, whose body already bore healing fractures from before the hospitalization, has not been addressed in public filings.
National data underscore how vulnerable infants are to this kind of violence. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports that abusive head trauma and violent shaking are leading causes of child abuse deaths among children under five, with non-fatal hospitalizations peaking among infants between one and three months old — just younger than the girl at the center of this case.
Missouri's Department of Social Services runs a 24-hour Child Abuse and Neglect Hotline at 1-800-392-3738, which fielded nearly 155,000 reports statewide in 2024 to trigger protective and law enforcement responses. The case follows other recent central Missouri child abuse prosecutions, including a Jefferson City man's conviction earlier this month and a similar infant abuse case Hoodline reported on in Overland this past spring.
