Missouri man accused of sexually attacking, killing daughter

KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- A Missouri man accused of sexually attacking and suffocating his high-school honors student daughter and leaving her body in a motel room was jailed Wednesday on $750,000 cash bond.

Jackson County prosecutors Tuesday charged Jerry Bausby, 40, of Kansas City with first-degree murder and felony counts of sodomy, incest and sexual abuse in the killing of 18-year-old Daizsa Laye Bausby in March. A prosecutor's spokesman said Bausby was arrested Tuesday night.

Online court records don't list an attorney to speak on Bausby's behalf. His voicemail was not accepting messages Wednesday.

According to a probable-cause statement, Bausby appears in surveillance video March 21 renting a Kansas City motel room, where cleaning staff found his daughter's body a day later. A medical examiner concluded the teenager died of asphyxia by smothering, police detective Ray Lenoir wrote in the statement.

Six hours after renting the 4 Acre Motel room, a man matching Jerry Bausby's description is seen in the video leaving the motel, never to return. Lenoir said Bausby told police three days later he had picked up his daughter at home and rented the room for her and "some of her friends." The father insisted he only stayed in the room for 20 to 30 minutes and walked to a friend's house, leaving only his daughter in the room. Lenoir said Bausby denied having sexual contact with his daughter.

Lab tests completed Monday show genetic material swabbed from Jerry Bausby's body matched the victim's DNA.

Daizsa Bausby was an honors student who, according to her obituary, was to graduate as salutatorian. The cheerleader also ran track, played basketball and was a Junior ROTC member. She already had amassed enough dual credit hours to earn an associate degree from a local community college, with plans to attend Grambling State University in Louisiana.

Weeks after her death, Bausby's classmates dedicated Southwest's commencement event to her, draping the chair she would have occupied with her honor cord, academic hood and a picture.

Online court records show Jerry Bausby's criminal history dates to at least 1995 and includes convictions -- some drawing prison sentences -- for theft, drugs, domestic assault, driving under the influence and driving with a suspended license. He also received a 120-day jail term for violation of a protection order.

Four days after the killing, Daizsa Bausby's mother, Laetta Walker, requested a protection order against Bausby, whom she divorced in 2008. According to that application, obtained Wednesday by The Associated Press, Walker wrote Bausby "has been abusive with me in the past" and was being investigated in Daizsa Bausby's death. A judge later granted the order.

A man who identified himself Wednesday only as an uncle of Daizsa Bausby said during a call to the family's home the family's only comment would come from Laetta Walker. She did not immediately return a telephone message.