Mother to Testify Against Ex in Baby’s Dresser Drawer Murder Case

Police and news outlets say that the mother of a baby girl who was beaten to death and then stuffed in a dresser drawer to rot is going to testify against her ex-boyfriend, who is charged with murder in the horrible killing.

As part of a plea deal, Madison Marshall, the 24-year-old mother of the 1-year-old baby, is going to name her 27-year-old ex-boyfriend Roan Waters as the person who beat Oaklee Snow to death in 2023.

Fox 23 got a copy of court papers that show Marshall pleaded guilty on Thursday to one count of neglect of a dependent resulting in death and one count of neglect of a dependent. She could get 25 years in prison for the first charge and two years for the second. If she follows through with the terms of the plea deal with the Marion County Prosecutor’s Office, she will serve both sentences at the same time.

According to court records, the young mom told police that she helped Waters, who is not the girl’s father, get rid of her daughter’s body after he reportedly killed the child and stopped Marshall from calling 911.

Records show that Marshall will say in court that on February 9, 2023, she was in the kitchen when she heard Waters yell at Oaklee and tell her to bounce on her bouncy ball.

After about ten minutes, Waters yelled for his girlfriend.

Records show that Marshall told police that she saw Waters holding a limp Oaklee in the hallway. The mom put her daughter in the bathtub and hit her face with cold water. Records show that she said Waters hit her phone out of her hand when she tried to call 911.

Waters then put Oaklee’s dead body in his SUV and wrapped it in a blanket. Records show that the pair then left her body at an empty house and stuffed the baby into a drawer.

The FBI and the police tried to find Oaklee but failed. Investigators didn’t find the girl’s body until they had Marshall retrace her steps from that night. Records show that she finally found the empty building in Morgan, which is about an hour south of Indianapolis.

Court papers show that Oaklee’s short life was cut short by being beaten and not getting enough care before her body was found badly decomposed.

Marion County Prosecutor Ryan Mears said that little Oaklee was abused often and that the alleged beating that killed her was not an isolated event.

“She spent a lot of her time on earth being abused by adults, and the charge here is that that abuse killed her,” Mears told CBS 4 Indy.

Court documents say that Marshall took the baby’s mother and her 7-month-old son from their father’s house without his permission the month before the baby was killed.

The plea deal that Marshall turned in to the Marion County Prosecutor’s Office says that he must give “full and truthful testimony at trial on behalf of the State against co-defendant Roan Waters.” The deal will be thrown out by the prosecutors if she doesn’t testify against Waters. She will then be tried for her original charges.

The trial was supposed to start on May 9, but it was moved to June 9 so that Marshall could be questioned by Waters’ lawyers.