Vinton police: two charged with neglect in death of 20-month-old child

Two people are facing charges of neglect in relation to the death of a 20-month-old child last year in Vinton, according to a press release from the Vinton Police Department.

Kaylee Morris, 23, and Mason Morgan, 24, are both facing charges of neglect of a dependent person, and Morgan is also charged with child endangerment by depriving of necessary care leading to death, according to the release posted to the police department’s Facebook page.

Morgan’s charges have not yet appeared in online court records. Records for Morris show that she was arrested on Friday, Oct. 10 on a warrant that was issued on Oct. 7.

According to criminal complaints filed against Morris, Morris’ 20-month-old daughter died on Sept. 22, 2024. The cause of death was not officially determined during the autopsy, but the doctor at the State Medical Examiner’s office who performed the autopsy believed it was partially due to dehydration and a subarachnoid hemorrhage.

In the seven months leading up to her death, the child lost almost three pounds, dropping from 89th weight percentile for her age to less than fifth percentile, and texts between Morgan and Morris indicate she wasn’t given much food in the three days before she died.

Morgan — Morris’ boyfriend who Morris considered the child’s father figure in the absence of her biological father — was the child’s primary caregiver from Sept. 19, 2024 to Sept. 21, 2024, while Morris was out of town visiting another partner.

Texts between the two of them, which are quoted in the criminal complaints, indicate that the child didn’t eat anything the day before she died, with Morgan stating she was “refusing everything,” and that the only food he had tried to give her was ramen.

“ … she’s getting basically nothing of nutritional value,” he said in one text.

That afternoon, Morgan put the child in the pack-and-play that the couple used as a crib and she became lethargic. Morgan told Morris in texts that the child slept for most of the afternoon and evening, and immediately began crying when he woke her up.

Morris asked multiple times if the child was sick and if she should return home, but Morgan told her not to.

Morgan had previously had a traumatic brain injury, which Morris later told police made him poorly equipped for child care, because he has difficulty with memory, emotional stability and time management, and he is easily overwhelmed, the complaints state.

When Morris did eventually come home, she didn’t check on the sleeping child, but instead used marijuana with Morgan and then went to bed. No one checked on the child between 9:30 p.m. on Sept. 21, 2024 and 11:05 a.m. on Sept. 22. At that time, Morris went into the child’s room to retrieve her and leave after a fight with Morgan about finances had escalated to him breaking a dresser.

Morris found the child unresponsive, and Morgan called 911. First responders arrived and took the child to the Virginia Gay Hospital, where she was declared dead.

The child was tested for drugs and alcohol, and her blood tests came back negative, but methamphetamine, nicotine, diphenhydramine, and beta-phenethylamine were all found in her hair, according to the complaints.

“If you guys decide that you need to arrest me, I will go willingly. Because I understand what I did was wrong. And I understand that I didn’t take care of her like I was supposed to,” Morris told police during an interview, according to complaints. “I will go willingly if you guys decide on whatever punishment you want, I’m OK with. I hate myself so much for what happened.”

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