State of Missouri vs. Jenna M. Boedecker

STATE OF MISSOURI, ) ) Respondent, ) WD86509 ) V. ) OPINION FILED: ) APRIL 8, 2025 JENNA M. BOEDECKER, ) ) Appellant. )

Appeal from the Circuit Court of Clay County, Missouri The Honorable Shane Terril Alexander, Judge

Before Division Four: Anthony Rex Gabbert, Chief Judge, Presiding, Cynthia L. Martin, Judge and Edward R. Ardini, Jr., Judge

Following the death of her children by hyperthermia, Jenna M. Boedecker ("Boedecker") was convicted of four counts of the class D felony of endangering the welfare of a child in the first degree; two counts of the class A felony of murder in the second degree (felony murder) associated with two of the endangering the welfare of a child counts; one count of the class A misdemeanor of domestic assault in the fourth degree; and one count of the class B misdemeanor of property damage in the second degree. On appeal, Boedecker contends that her convictions for endangering the welfare

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of a child in the first degree, and as a result, her associated convictions for felony murder were not supported by sufficient evidence. Boedecker also argues that all of her convictions should be reversed because irrelevant evidence of her methamphetamine use was erroneously admitted. Finding no error, we affirm. Factual and Procedural Background Boedecker's convictions were the result of events that occurred from July 3, 2018, into the morning of July 4, 2018. The events culminated in the tragic death of two-year old I.R., 1 and seven-week old G.R., Boedecker's children. Viewed in the light most favorable to the verdict, the following evidence was adduced at trial. 2

Boedecker and her children were picked up by a friend, S.B., on July 3, 2018 at around 11:00 a.m. to go to a neighborhood pool in Kearney, Missouri. S.B. observed that Boedecker "just didn't seem right . . . like, she wasn't completely there." When the group arrived at the pool, Boedecker immediately walked away from S.B.'s car to use a landline telephone at the pool. Boedecker left G.R. in the car in her car seat. S.B. became concerned about the heat and took G.R. out of the car when she realized Boedecker had not done so. S.B. stated that Boedecker was more concerned with whoever was on the phone than she was with her children.

1 All witnesses, victims, and others who are not parties are referred to by their initials or by other non-identifying references in accordance with the redaction requirements of section 509.520. 2 "On appeal from a jury-tried case, we view the facts in the light most favorable to the jury's verdict." State v. Moore, 687 S.W.3d 1, 4 n.2 (Mo. App. W.D. 2024) (quoting State v. Morgan, 674 S.W.3d 497, 500 n.1 (Mo. App. W.D. 2023)).

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After a short period of time, the group was asked to leave the pool because Boedecker's swimsuit top was ill-fitting. Boedecker started to put G.R. into her car seat but was stopped by S.B. who said the children should not be placed in the car before it had been started because of the heat. S.B. dropped Boedecker and the children at Boedecker's home around 12:30 p.m. At approximately 1:00 p.m., a neighbor, C.M., saw Boedecker in another neighbor's backyard talking to a blue ball while "beating on the back door, on the side of the house, the windows . . . [and] try[ing] to get into the cars in the driveway." After watching Boedecker for about ten minutes, C.M. called the police because she did not believe anyone was home at the house Boedecker was trying to enter. However, while she was on the phone with the police, C.M. saw someone open the front door of the house to let Boedecker inside. As a result, C.M. told the operator there was no need for the police to respond. About twenty minutes later, C.M. saw Boedecker walk out the front door of the neighbor's house. Boedecker reached into the rear passenger side door of a car in the driveway, removed I.R. and G.R. from the back seat of the car, and took the children into the neighbor's house. C.M. was concerned because her thermometer situated in the shade read ninety-three degrees, and Boedecker's car had been off with the windows rolled up the entire time she had been watching Boedecker. C.M. immediately called the police a second time to report her concern that two children had been left in a hot car for an extended period of time. When the police arrived, Boedecker took the children from the neighbor's house back to her vehicle. The police cautioned Boedecker about leaving

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children in a hot car. Boedecker placed G.R. in her car seat and then got into the driver's seat. An officer had to tell Boedecker that I.R. was still standing outside in front of the car. Boedecker got back out of her car, placed I.R. in the backseat, and drove away. At around 4:00 p.m. that afternoon, J.R., who was Boedecker's husband and the father of I.R. and G.R., returned home from work. J.R. agreed to watch the children while Boedecker drove to pick up a pack of cigarettes. After Boedecker had been gone for about an hour and a half, J.R. tried to call her but the calls went straight to voicemail. J.R. called his mother, T.B., who offered to come watch the children while J.R. went searching for Boedecker. On the way to J.R.'s home, T.B. saw Boedecker's vehicle broken down in the middle of 92 highway. The police were called to the scene just before 8:00 p.m. Boedecker told the responding officers that her car was inoperable and that a friend was on the way to help move her car from the middle of the road. Boedecker was behaving strangely. She made flirtatious comments to the officers, was constantly moving back and forth on the highway, and was standing in physically awkward positions. Eventually, J.R. arrived. He determined that Boedecker's vehicle was out of gas. J.R. added four gallons of gas to the car, and then drove the vehicle home. Back at the house, Boedecker's strange behavior continued. She was observed outside in the dark wearing only her underwear while picking flowers. I.R. was with Boedecker and was completely naked. At some point that evening, J.R. left in his truck to get more gasoline for Boedecker's car. When J.R. returned about thirty minutes later, he discovered that Boedecker had placed the children in her car and "was just listening to

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music." J.R. removed the children from the car, put G.R. in her bassinet to sleep, and watched a movie with I.R. for about thirty minutes. J.R. observed that Boedecker was not acting like herself and seemed "loopy." J.R. asked Boedecker for her bottle of Xanax. Though Boedecker had filled the prescription with 120 pills that same day, J.R. counted only ninety-eight pills in the bottle at around 10:30 p.m. After giving J.R. the pill bottle, Boedecker went back outside and started her car. G.R. and I.R. were asleep inside the house. When J.R. had returned from the gas station earlier in the evening, he added an additional two-and-a-half gallons of gasoline to the car so that the car now had about eight gallons of gas in the tank. After Boedecker started her car, J.R. reached into the vehicle, turned it off, and told Boedecker that he needed to do some repair work on the car. J.R. set the car keys on Boedecker's lap. J.R. turned to walk to his truck. Boedecker turned her car back on, accelerated, and propelled towards J.R. and his truck. J.R. narrowly escaped being hit, but Boedecker hit J.R.'s truck before speeding into a nearby field and looping back around in front of the house. J.R. started taking pictures of the damage to his truck. Boedecker got out of her car, picked up a brick, and threw it at J.R.'s head. J.R. dodged the brick, but Boedecker picked up another brick and chased J.R. around the yard. J.R. made it into his truck before Boedecker threw the brick which skipped across the truck's window. J.R. began driving down the driveway to escape. Boedecker picked up a brick and chased J.R.'s truck. J.R. kept driving and left the home at around 12:30 a.m. on July 4, 2018. J.R. decided to stay at his mother's house for the night.

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At around 9:40 a.m. on July 4, 2018, a Clay County Children's Division employee arrived at Boedecker's home to follow-up on the hotline call made by C.M. the previous day after Boedecker's children had been left in her hot car for an extended period of time. The Children's Division employee noticed that a car was running in the driveway but did not look inside the vehicle. At the front door of the house, the Children's Division employee observed that the screen door was shut but the front interior door was wide open permitting the worker to see into the living room. A cat was walking around inside and the TV was on, but the Children's Division employee did not see anyone inside the house. After knocking loudly three times and receiving no response, the Children's Division employee left Boedecker's home fifteen minutes after arriving. At 11:55 a.m. that same day, a neighbor watched Boedecker come towards his house holding her two children. Boedecker carried I.R. in her left arm and was holding G.R., dangling by her wrist, in her right hand. Boedecker told the neighbor she had put the children in the car because her home's air-conditioning was not working. Boedecker said that the car ran out of gas at some point during the night. The neighbor observed that the children were unconscious and were "a blue color." The neighbor and his family called 911, attempted to cool the children down, and performed life-saving measures in an effort to revive I.R. and G.R. EMT's arrived and also attempted life-saving measures but ultimately determined that the children were deceased. Lividity had already set in and G.R. had a soiled diaper. When police arrived, they discovered Boedecker's car in the driveway with a red gas can near the rear tire. The car was not running. The key was in the ignition in the

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"on" position. However, Boedecker's car would not start. In the car, police discovered two boxes of cigarettes, ninety-two Xanax pills, and an empty pill bottle labeled for a prescription of "amphetamine salts." Police observed that the interior front door to Boedecker's home was open, that several kittens were in the house, and that the air conditioning unit was on and functioning. Boedecker was questioned by the police at the scene. Boedecker told officers that she had taken the children out of the house and put them in the car to sleep but that at some point during the night the car ran out of gas. She told police that she woke up at one point and noticed the car was low on gas but couldn't figure out how to refill it so she got back into the car and went back to sleep. Boedecker told officers that when she woke up again she noticed that her children were unresponsive, attempted CPR, and then took the children to the neighbor's house for help. Boedecker was taken to the police station for further questioning. Boedecker changed her story. She now told police that she had been waiting outside for her husband to return with gas for the car, that she did not have keys to her house, and that because she believed J.R. would be returning shortly, she turned the air-conditioner on in the car and "dozed off" before waking up and realizing that she was "hot as shit." Boedecker told police that she then pulled the children out of the car, took them in the house, doused them with cold water, and attempted CPR before taking the children to her neighbor's house. Boedecker repeatedly told police that she knew it was dangerous for children as young as I.R. and G.R. to be left in a hot car but said she thought the car was comfortable because it was dark outside.

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In subsequent interviews by police, Boedecker continued to maintain that