Poplar Bluff woman charged with child abuse with a two-by-four

A Poplar Bluff woman accused of hitting her foster daughter with a two-by-four appeared in court Thursday on a child abuse charge.

Elizabeth Marie Keller-Crites appeared before Associate Circuit Judge C. Wade Pierce on the Class B felony of abuse or neglect of a child.

Keller-Crites

The 38-year-old is accused of causing a child to “suffer physical injury as a result of abuse by hitting her” on April 5.

Keller-Crites, according to Casenet, waived arraignment on the charge and entered a not guilty plea. Attorney John Scott entered an appearance on the woman’s behalf.

Pierce set Keller-Crites’ preliminary hearing for 1 p.m. May 23.

The charge against Keller-Crites stems from an investigation by the Butler County Sheriff’s Department.

On April 9, Butler County deputies reportedly were asked to assist Crystal Purl, a Missouri Children’s Division investigator, with allegations of child abuse/neglect with serious physical injury.

Deputies, along with Purl, contacted an 8-year-old girl at Lake Road Elementary School, according to Butler County Investigator Randle Huddleston’s probable-cause statement.

“During their contact with (the girl), she made the statement to officers that her mommy … hit her with a two-by-four,” said Huddleston, who indicated Keller-Crites is the girl’s foster parent.

“Upon further questioning, (she) disclosed that she was cleaning the couch with a wet wipe at her home” located on County Road 4222 when Keller-Crites “started hitting her with a two-by-four,” Huddleston said.

The girl, he said, further reported when it was “over E. Crites told her that she was done with her for the day and to go to bed.”

Huddleston said the girl then pulled up her left pant leg and revealed dark purple, red and yellow bruising on the outside of her upper left leg in the thigh area.

Huddleston said the girl later “disclosed (Keller-Crites) kicked and picked her up and slammed her down.”

The bruising the child had was “consistent with a violent physical contact,” said Huddleston, who indicated it was “some of the worst (abuse) I’ve seen.”

During the investigation, Huddleston said, officers attempted to contact Keller-Crites at her home; however, her husband, Bryan Crites, reported she was at work.

Bryan Crites, Huddleston said, told officers his wife did “spank the children,” including the 8-year-old “with a flip-flop shoe or her hand.

“(He) stated he makes the children do physical exercise as a form of punishment and does not agree with spanking the children; therefore, he does not administer spankings to any of the children.”

Huddleston said Bryan Crites also reported his wife is “short tempered and does lose her cool from time to time, but (he) has never witnessed her causing this type of injury to anyone before.”

Huddleston said Keller-Crites was contacted at the sheriff’s department, and she agreed to speak with officers after being told of her rights.

“… she stated she had done nothing wrong and that (the girl) had a habit of inflicting injuries to herself,” Huddleston said.

On April 10, he said, deputies were contacted by a local pediatrician, who had been asked to conduct a full-body examination of the child.

Dr. Claudia Preuschoff, Huddleston said, provided photographs that “would be pertinent to the investigation.”

Huddleston said those photographs “showed dark bruising to both left and right upper arms of (the girl), on the inner and outer arm in the bicep region that (Preuschoff) stated is consistent with someone’s hand and fingers gripping and squeezing the arm too hard.”

The child, he said, also had “deep bruising, in various stages of healing,” on her lower back area, as well as bruising to the left side of the lower torso near the left hip and to the right side of her lower back and lower torso.

“There was also deep black, red and purple bruising to the entire left and right buttock of (the girl) that continued to an area below her buttocks on her legs,” Huddleston said.

Preuschoff, he said, reported the girl’s injuries were “not consistent with self harm or routine spanking.”

The child, according to Huddleston, was removed from the home, and she remains in foster care.

Keller-Crites remains free on bond, having posted a $50,000 cash or surety bond last week.