Remains believed to belong to a missing one-year-old girl from Oklahoma have been discovered inside a drawer in an abandoned house.
The unsettling discovery, thought to be that of Oaklee Mae Snow, who was last seen in February, took place nearly 30 miles from her last known whereabouts. Court documents indicate that the girl’s mother, 22-year-old Madison Marshall, alleged that her boyfriend, 25-year-old Roan Waters, killed the child and concealed her body in a drawer in an abandoned Indiana house.
The remains, believed to be those of a blonde-haired girl, were in an advanced state of decomposition, and identification is pending from the medical examiner.
Both Marshall and her boyfriend, Waters, were arrested last month, resulting in escalated charges against Marshall, who now faces two counts of neglect of a dependent resulting in death and serious injury. Waters, initially arrested on unrelated charges, is now charged with one count of murder and two counts of neglect leading to death, among other offenses.
In a departure from earlier statements, investigators now think the girl was killed just one month shy of her second birthday. According to authorities, Oaklee Mae Snow was last seen on February 9, when her mother carried her lifeless body out of a residence described as a “crack house” in Indianapolis.
Investigators claim that the mom, Marshall, kidnapped Oaklee and her seven-month-old brother, Coleton, from their father’s home in Cromwell, Oklahoma, in mid-January. Marshall and Waters took the children to Indianapolis, where Waters’ family lives. Little Coleton was left abandoned in the Indianapolis house but was later reunited with his father after someone alerted authorities.
Marshall was apprehended in Harnett County, North Carolina, and extradited to Marion County, Indiana. The girl’s body was found last week when Marshall guided investigators to the deserted Morgantown house.
Marion County Prosecutor Ryan Mears said that the allegations depict a horrifying death and abandonment that denied the child the dignity she deserved.
