Indiana – In a harrowing case that has shocked Indiana and reached national headlines, a 27-year-old man, identified as R. Waters, has agreed to plead guilty in connection with the death of his girlfriend’s nearly 2-year-old daughter, whose battered body was discovered hidden inside a closet at an abandoned home months after she was reported missing.
Waters signed a plea agreement on May 22 admitting guilt to one count of neglect of a dependent resulting in death and two additional counts of neglect of a dependent, weeks after his girlfriend, identified as M. Marshall, agreed to testify against him as part of her plea agreement. The charges stem from the January 2023 death of young Oaklee, a child described by loved ones as joyful and bright. Waters had originally faced multiple charges, including murder and battery of a person under 14, but those will be dropped under the terms of the plea. On June 13, a judge will sentence Waters to 45 years behind bars, the maximum for the counts he pleaded guilty to, with the sentences to run consecutively.
Oaklee disappeared in January 2023, after Waters and her mother, Marshall, took the child and her baby brother from their Oklahoma home without the father’s consent. Authorities later determined the group had traveled to Indiana and was staying with Waters’ mother. While Oaklee’s 7-month-old brother was eventually found abandoned in a suspected drug house, Oaklee was missing for months. Waters was arrested in March 2023 at a hotel in Colorado on an Oklahoma warrant. Investigators soon discovered through interviews and digital evidence that he had been physically abusive to Oaklee during her final days…