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Records: Indiana 1-year-old raped, murdered

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An Indiana man has been formally charged with rape, murder and child molestation by county prosecutors in the death of 1-year-old Shaylyn Ammerman.

According to court records, the list of charges against Kyle Parker are:

  • Murder
  • Rape
  • Child molesting where defendant is at least 21 years of age
  • Kidnapping
  • Aggravated battery when defendant is at least 18 years old
  • Strangulation
  • Obstruction of justice
  • Failure to report a dead body

Parker was taken into custody Thursday afternoon. He pleaded not guilty at an initial hearing Monday afternoon in Indiana. No bond was set and an attorney was appointed for Parker by the court.

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Shaylyn's father, Justin Ammerman, told Scripps station RTV6 that Parker had been at his house the night his daughter disappeared.

Shaylyn's body was found around 6 p.m. Thursday in a "very rural" area near the White River north of Gosport, Indiana. Her death has been ruled a homicide by asphyxiation. 
 
According to the probable cause affidavit, Justin Ammerman's brother, Adam, saw Parker leave the house early on the morning of Shaylyn's disappearance.
Adam stated he saw Kyle Parker walking away from the house and he was carrying something. Adam advised he yelled at Kyle to say goodbye but Kyle would not turn around. Adam informed detectives that he thought he saw a foot dangling from Kyle's side but was not certain so he went back to bed.

When initially questioned on March 23, Parker told police he wasn't carrying anything when he left the house and that he did turn around and wave at Adam.

The court documents say that Parker's friends told police that Kyle liked pornographic videos with sadistic and masochistic themes, and that he was attracted to girls in the 12-14 age range. Kyle told police that isn't true.

After Parker's interview, police contacted his stepfather, Mike Patton, and told him they thought Kyle was involved in Shaylyn's disappearance but wasn't cooperating.  Patton said he would talk with Kyle, "about doing the right thing."

During a second interview with police on March 24, Parker agreed to show them on a map where the body was located. Kyle said they shouldn't find any of his DNA on Shaylyn's body.

Mike (Patton) stated when he spoke to Kyle on 3-24-16 during a smoke break from the interview, Kyle informed him that the police would have the truth once they found Shaylyn's body and the DNA with it. Mike stated he knew right then that Kyle had taken Shaylyn and raped and killed her.

An autopsy was performed on Shaylyn's body on March 25 at the Kentucky Medical Examiner's Office in Louisville. Dr. Donna Stewart specializes in pediatric autopsies with sexual battery and molestation.

Dr. Stewart said there were numerous "very apparent injuries" sustained in a sexual assault against Shaylyn.

She told police this was the worst case of sexual trauma she had seen in her career.

On March 27, Mike Patton contacted police and said Kyle confessed to him what actually happened to Shaylyn. He said that Kyle confirmed that he acted alone in her death.
Mike stated Kyle disclosed to him that after he killed Shaylyn he drove her to the location (where) her body was found. When Kyle realized what he had done, he informed Mike that he tried to clean it up. 
Kyle also told Mike burned Shaylyn's clothes and pacifier at the location where her body was found.  He said he hoped to create reasonable doubt enough to keep charges from being filed.

 

Above: 1-year-old Shaylyn Ammerman

Court records show Parker has had past run-ins with the law in Owen County on charges of drug possession and criminal trespassing. RTV6 couldn't find any previous felony charges on record.