Poplar Bluff woman charged with slapping her 7-month-old daughter for continued crying

POPLAR BLUFF, Mo. -- A Poplar Bluff mother accused of abusing her 7-month-old daughter because the infant wouldn't stop crying made her first court appearance Monday morning.

Jennifer Fay Blanche Miller, 26, of the 100 block of County Road 476 was arraigned before Associate Circuit Judge John Bloodworth on felony child abuse.

Miller, who had been in the Butler County Jail since the charge was filed Friday by Butler County Prosecuting Attorney Kevin Barbour, was released after posting a $20,000 surety bond.

Bloodworth ordered Miller to appear at 9 a.m. May 22 with her attorney.

The complaint on file with the court alleges from April 30 to May 1 Miller "knowingly inflicted cruel and inhuman punishment" her daughter by causing deep bruising to the face, which "caused serious emotional injury" to the child.

Butler County sheriff's deputy Adam Mathias reportedly was sent to Poplar Bluff Regional Medical Center on April 30 to assist a child service worker with an child abuse investigation ongoing.

In his probable-cause affidavit, Mathias said he saw deep bruising on the right side of the child's face.

Mathias said Miller initially told him and the child service worker she had left both of her children with another woman for about 45 minutes and saw the bruising on her daughter's face when she returned.

However, the other woman denied having watched the children, Mathias said in his statement.

Hospital personnel told Mathias the bruises were recent and had been produced by an adult hand.

A doctor told him "that a child would not have the strength to cause the bruise," Mathias said. Miller subsequently came to the sheriff's department, where she reportedly was told of her rights and interviewed.

During the interview, she said she did not hurt her daughter. But after a while, Matthias wrote in the statement, she said that it was an accident that her son did it with a toy.

When Miller was told what the doctor had reported, "she became very upset and stated that she caused the injuries" to her daughter, Mathias said.