Grand jury indicts couple in death of child who fell from eight-story apartment in Independence

A grand jury has indicted a father and his girlfriend on child endangerment charges after a 3-year-old boy fell from the window of an eight-story apartment in Independence in late July and died, court documents show.

A Jackson County grand jury indicted 30-year-old Moses Lee Bass and 29-year-old Destiny Leeann Randle, both on first-degree child endangerment charges.

The grand jury alleged that the father and his girlfriend failed to supervise the child while he was in a room with a window that had a broken screen that could be opened, resulting in the child's death.

The charges replace similar charges filed days after the child's death. Moses and Randle remain free after each posting $10,000 of a $100,000 bond. Special conditions of their release, including restraining orders from contacting their three other children, remain in effect.

Moses and Randle are scheduled to go on trial on the new charges at 1:30 p.m. on Sept. 5 at the Eastern Jackson County Courthouse in Independence. If found guilty, they face 10 to 30 years or life in prison.

According to Independence police, the child fell from the window of his apartment at Independence Towers, 728 N. Jennings Road, sometime before 10:05 a.m. on July 29.

Police have not yet released the child's name publicly, although a family member has given the child's name by his first name, Tidus. Funeral services for three-year-old Tidus L. Bass, who died on July 29, are scheduled for August 31.

Firefighters found the child lying unconscious but breathing in the grass in front of the building. He was taken to the hospital and immediately transferred to Children's Mercy Hospital in Kansas City. The boy was pronounced dead a few hours later.

Court documents show that Bass and Randle knew the window was a safety hazard since June 2023, and that the children had been able to bypass the locks since December. Bass told police he would put a bar in the window's track to keep it closed, but one of the children had learned how to remove it and unlock the window.

For months, residents have been complaining about the poor living conditions in the high-rise. Earlier this year, Fannie Mae filed suit against the building's owner, 728 N Jennings RD Partners, LLC, demanding the appointment of a receiver. Fannie Mae claimed that the building's owner had failed to maintain it in accordance with its loan agreement.

On May 16, a Jackson County judge appointed Trigild Inc. of San Diego as receiver. In May, Trigild took over management of Tango Management's property, which was owned by the LLC managed by Parker Webb.

Last week, tenants again called on the building's new landlord to make repairs as maintenance problems continued to worsen.