A St. Francois County grand jury has indicted a Valles Mines man and a Bonne Terre woman on charges connected to the remains of two stillborn infants discovered during a rural excavation this summer. Keith J. Armbruster, 41, and Rebecca L. Whaley, 31, were each indicted on two counts of abandonment of a corpse, and both are being held on $100,000 bonds apiece.
The grand jury returned the indictments on Monday, according to KMOV, following a Missouri State Highway Patrol investigation that began in June into allegations that the pair conspired to dispose of the infants' remains in rural St. Francois County. That investigation eventually led investigators to a burial site that was excavated in July, a search that turned up the remains of the two infants.
As KTTN reports, the case was handled by the Missouri State Highway Patrol's Division of Drug and Crime Control, whose criminal investigators worked the case with assistance from the Bonne Terre Police Department, the St. Francois County Sheriff's Office, the St. Francois County Coroner's Office, and the St. Louis County Medical Examiner's Office. The Bonne Terre Police Department had requested the Division of Drug and Crime Control's involvement, per the same outlet's reporting.
How Investigators Built the Case
Using investigative techniques, forensic evidence, and interviews, investigators identified Armbruster and Whaley as persons of interest and located the site where the infants had reportedly been buried, according to KTTN. The site was then forensically excavated, resulting in the recovery of the infants' remains. Investigators later submitted a probable cause statement to the St. Francois County Prosecutor's Office. The grand jury subsequently returned indictments.
Armbruster and Whaley were taken into custody on September 22 as part of Operation Relentless Pursuit, a joint effort involving the U.S. Marshals Service and the St. Francois County Sheriff's Office, per KTTN's reporting. Both are now held at the St. Francois County jail. The bonds and custody status track with what KMOV reported this week, noting the pair are being held at the St. Francois County jail on the $100,000 bonds each.
Similar Cases Elsewhere in Missouri
Abandonment of a corpse charges have surfaced in other Missouri cases in recent years. In 2022, Columbia police announced that Staffone Fountain, 30, was charged with first-degree murder and abandonment of a corpse in connection with the 2019 death of an infant, according to the Columbia Missourian. In the same Columbia case, Lavosha Daniels, 28, was charged with abandonment of a corpse and first-degree abandonment of a child, according to the Columbia Missourian.
More recently, Raeleena S. Barlett, 28, pleaded guilty to an amended charge of abandonment of a corpse in Jackson County Circuit Court in April and received probation, according to a report carried by Yahoo News. Missouri House Bill 637 defines abandonment of a corpse and classifies it as a class D felony, per the Missouri House of Representatives, though it is not established how that bill provision applies to the current charges against Armbruster and Whaley.
Investigators Seek Additional Information
Authorities have asked anyone with information related to the investigation to contact Missouri State Highway Patrol Corporal Jason Ashby, who can be reached at 636-300-2800 or by email at [email protected], according to KTTN's reporting. As with any criminal case, the charges against Armbruster and Whaley remain accusations, and any evidence supporting them must be presented in a court of competent jurisdiction, which will determine guilt or innocence.
