The details are gruesome and senseless. The man charged with murdering 3-year-old Breeann Rodriguez of Senath, Mo., told police he suffocated the child with a plastic trash bag, put her body inside the bag then drove to a floodway ditch at a nearby highway and threw the body in the water.
According to details released by the police and reported by The Daily Dunklin Democrat, Shawn Morgan, 43, of Senath said he saw the little girl standing on the ladder of his pool. He grabbed her, took her inside his home then suffocated her by putting a trash bag over her face. He placed her inside the bag and, after disposing of her body, disassembled her pink bicycle before throwing the parts into the same ditch.
The Breeann’s body has not been recovered; currently, searchers and volunteers are combing the waterways and ditches looking for the child. Morgan’s home is on the same street that the Rodriguez family lives on in Senath. Searchers did find Breeann’s bicycle during the search and her father, Edgar Rodriguez, identified it.
Morgan’s statements were part of an affidavit for probable cause that prompted the murder charges against him. In the statement, which is available online, Morgan did not indicate a motive for killing the little girl but gave the details on how he killed her and disposed of her body and the bicycle.
There have been few details given regarding Morgan or his past criminal history. Previous media reports stated that he is a father of three, married long-term to his wife and has been at his current residence for several years. While the murder of a child is never something one can understand, the senseless and shocking nature of this act is incomprehensible. It is unknown if Morgan had prior contact with the little girl or her family but it is reasonable to believe the two families at least knew of each other; they lived on the same street.
As more details emerge about Morgan and his motives, it is certain to further outrage a community and a nation which has followed the story of Breeann’s disappearance. As searchers continue to look for the child’s body, thoughts and prayers are with the Rodriguez family as they deal with an event no parent should have to experience: the murder of their child and the lack of closure, as her body has not yet been recovered.