Police arrest Cape woman, boy for alleged beatings of two girls

An adult witness said two women and an older juvenile boy assaulted 14- and 11-year-old girls and “were beating these girls like grown people,” according to a probable-cause statement filed by Cape Girardeau police.

Cape Girardeau police arrested Sherron Melissa Minor, 32, of Cape Girardeau on Monday. The Cape Girardeau County prosecuting attorney’s office charged Minor with two counts of child abuse. Her bond has been set at $15,000 cash or surety.

The 14-year-old boy suspect in the abuse was detained by Cape Girardeau police and referred to the juvenile court system.

There have not been any charges filed against the other woman involved in the abuse accusation. Cape Girardeau police are still investigating.

Cape Girardeau patrolman Brendon Whitlock began investigating abuse allegations at 8 a.m. Monday when he received information from a Cape Girardeau school staff member one of the victims was not in school because she had been physically abused, according to a probable-cause statement filed by Whitlock.

The staff member talked to a student witness who was present during the beating about 6 p.m. Sunday, Whitlock wrote. The witness said the victim had come over to her house when the victim and another girl were beaten in a closet, according to the statement.

Whitlock then was contacted by a Missouri Division of Family Services worker at a different Cape Girardeau school because she had interviewed a second victim, according to the statement.

The victim received treatment by the school nurse for injuries to her left leg and right elbow, Whitlock wrote.

Whitlock noted the victim could not extend her right arm. The victim said Minor caused her injuries, Whitlock wrote.

Whitlock and Hise interviewed the older of the two victims who stayed home from school and had sustained injuries to her face, according to the statement. The older victim also identified Minor as her attacker, Whitlock wrote.

Whitlock interviewed Minor about 1 p.m. Monday at police headquarters after reading Minor her Miranda rights, according to the statement.

Minor said she “snatched” the younger victim out of the closet at the house in the 1600 block of Main Street but did not know how the older victim sustained injuries to her face, Whitlock wrote.

Whitlock interviewed the witnessing juvenile’s mother, who said she also saw the abuse, according to the statement. She said she gave permission to her daughter to have two friends over but later was awakened by two women and an older male juvenile at her door, Whitlock wrote.

The three assailants later found the two victims hiding in a closet, and they struck the children in the stomach with fists, grabbed the girls by the hair and punched them in the face, Whitlock wrote.

The mother said they then dragged the two girls out of the house, according to the statement.

Whitlock interviewed the victims again at the Division of Family Services office, he wrote. They identified all three suspects, according to the statement.

bkleine@semissourian.com

(573) 388-3644

Pertinent address: 1600 block of Main Street, Cape Girardeau, MO