For the father of 3-yearold Jayda Kyle, who died of suspected child abuse, purported Missouri Department of Social Services and local juvenile office documents posted on the internet and social media raise some unanswered questions about his daughter’s death.
The girl died Dec. 1 at Children’s Mercy Hospital in Kansas City after having suffered a severe head injury the night of Nov. 27 in the Carl Junction home of her mother, Devyn Kyle, and her mother’s boyfriend, Jalen Vaden.
Vaden, 22, has been charged with second-degree murder and child abuse resulting in the girl’s death.
In an interview Friday in the company of their attorney, the girl’s father, Mackenzie “Mack” Kyle, and
KYLE -- FROM 1A
grandfather, Jeff Kyle, told how their family learned of Jayda’s injury and drove to Kansas City the night she was transported there by medical helicopter.
Mack Kyle said he told the doctor when he came to speak with them to give it to him straight: How was his daughter? The doctor told him Jayda was not going to make it, that she had suffered too severe blunt-force trauma to her head “from child abuse.” That was more than he could stand to hear, and he turned and walked out of the room, the girl’s father recalled.
“I wanted to believe it was an accident,” Mack Kyle said.
“We did not want to believe that she was murdered,” Jeff Kyle said.
But what they have learned about the matter since then from purported Children’s Division and Jasper County Juvenile Office documents, which have been circulating this week on the internet and social media, make them wonder if the law enforcement agencies involved have gotten things right.
The reports that have popped up appear to be the type of documents often provided to families involved in DSS and juvenile office cases. They are not records normally made public or released to the media, and the Globe has not been able to obtain them through official channels or to confirm their validity.
The documents raised a firestorm on social media this week because the report that is being attributed to the DSS alleges that Judd McPherson, a Joplin attorney and the father of Devyn Kyle, attempted to “manipulate/ direct” the investigation into the girl’s death and because both reports provide new details of the accounts that Devyn Kyle and Vaden initially provided doctors and investigators.
Devyn and Mack Kyle were divorced in June 2016. Court records show child custody issues preceding Jayda’s death that have included questions about the visitation rights of Mack Kyle in light of an alleged assault of his girlfriend and an arrest for a burglary this past year. Those lingering issues and new questions raised by their daughter’s death resulted in a juvenile court decision to place the girl’s 5-year-old brother, Quincy, in the temporary care and custody of his paternal aunt rather than with his mother or father or either set of grandparents.
The situation led to some finger-pointing and denials this week between the two families.
“It’s unfortunate that confidential documents have been released by the other side,” Springfield attorney Joe Passanise, who represents Devyn Kyle and her parents, told the Globe. “This is a tragic situation, and the McPherson family is grieving at the loss of their granddaughter and daughter.”
Passanise said the McPhersons have reason to believe that the Kyle family released the documents to third parties, who then posted
them on social media. He said the McPhersons understand that the Kyles are grieving, too, but the posting of confidential documents on social media “is not the appropriate venue” to discuss the matter.
Mack Kyle acknowledges having received a copy of the DSS report from the state but denied posting it on the internet or providing it to anyone who did. He declined to provide the document to the Globe. He claims he was never even provided the report that appears to have been prepared by the juvenile office.
There is nothing in either document that refutes or contradicts the probable- cause affidavit filed with the charges against Vaden.
The affidavit states that Vaden admitted in an interview Dec. 6 with Detective Jason Hutchins of the Jasper County sheriff’s office that he entered Jayda’s bedroom and “became upset over the child not being dressed in the pajamas he instructed her to put on.” He admitted that he picked her up and threw her down, causing her head to strike the floor.
Vaden told the detective that when she came out of the bedroom a short time later without the pajamas on that he told her to wear, he threw her on the bed. He admitted that when he went back in the bedroom again and she was still not wearing the pajamas, he threw her on the bed a second time and then grabbed her leg and tossed her face-first on the floor.
He told the detective that the next time he returned to the bedroom, she was lying there, “bleeding and unresponsive.”
Mack Kyle and his father told the Globe that they have have received little information about the investigation. When they read that Carl Junction police Chief Delmar Haase told the Globe that Devyn Kyle had been cleared of any wrongdoing, they wanted to know why, especially in light of the DSS report that expressed concern with her father’s alleged attempts to influence the investigation.
Jeff Kyle said they made an appointment Dec. 14 to see Sheriff Randee Kaiser about the matter and he assured them that the investigation remained ongoing.
The sheriff told the Globe this week that the investigation remains open and that investigators are following up on all aspects that require followup. He declined to discuss if that meant anyone else could face charges in the case.
“If there’s no evidence of criminal activity, then, obviously, we can’t bring charges,” Kaiser said.
Passanise wishes to put to rest concerns about the investigation raised by the DSS report.
“I can say that the McPherson family denies any wrongdoing and has been fully cooperative with law enforcement and the DSS office to assist in their investigations,” Passanise said.
Sunday, 24 Dec. 2017 P A1