Man from Stover is charged for death of girlfriend's son

Thomas Presley mugshot from the Morgan County Sheriff's Department

edited news release from Morgan County Sheriff's Department

8:55 p.m. CST, February 16, 2012

VERSAILLES, Mo. -- On Thursday at approximately 5:10 a.m. Thomas Presley, 21, of Stover called 911 to report a 3-year-old boy in his custody had been struck by a car on Missouri 135 near Buttons Road.  Presley reported the incident as a hit and run.

Law enforcement and medical personnel responded to the scene.  The boy was unresponsive.  An ambulance took him to the hospital in Sedalia but doctors couldn't save him.

Based upon inconsistencies at the scene, statements of Presley and the violent trauma to the head and torso of the boy, detectives questioned Presley some more.

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They determined Presley staged the hit-and-run crash to cover up an assault on the boy at his home at 105 Oak Park Lane in Stover.

Presley is in the Morgan County Jail pending formal charges for seconnd-degree murder. The investigation is ongoing.

Officers of the Stover Police Department, Morgan County Sheriff’s Department, Missouri State Highway Patrol, and Children's Division of the Department of Social Services are assisting in the investigation.