KANSAS CITY, Kan. — A 3-year-old Kansas City, Kansas girl reported missing weeks ago only to be found in a shallow grave the same day an AMBER Alert was issued for her was covered in bruises from head to toe and died of a brain bleed according to investigators.
An affidavit FOX4 obtained Monday provided more insight into the homicide investigation of Olivia Jansen. Her father, Howard Jansen III, and his girlfriend, Jacqulyn Kirkpatrick, each face first-degree murder, aggravated endangering a child and criminal desecration of a body.
In court papers, Jansen III went to KCKPD’s Midtown Patrol Division to report Olivia’s disappearance at 8:30 a.m., on July 10, saying he had seen her sleeping on a couch at 6 p.m., the night before. When the alert went out later that Friday, investigators said that the last time he’d seen her was at 11 p.m., Thursday when he went to sleep at a home on Gibbs Road.

Throughout the day Friday, investigators searched around two homes less than a mile apart — the one at 44th and Gibbs Road and another near 48th and Ottawa streets. Eventually investigators were led to a wooded area at 34th and Steele Road.
They found Olivia’s body in a shallow grave covered by sticks and dirt that Friday evening. Court papers say she was badly injured and it would have been apparent to anyone that saw her that she suffered great physical abuse. Her face, arms and legs were all covered in bruises.
She also had a small cut on the back of her head, and an autopsy revealed significant bleeding on the back of her brain, which caused her death.
The affidavit is heavily redacted and doesn’t reveal any interviews between Jansen III, Kirkpatrick and detectives. Both are still in the Wyandotte County Jail, held on $500,000 bonds, and due back in court on July 28.