Panel recommends no charges in infant shooting

Nodaway County Prosecutor Robert Rice has announced that the county’s Child Fatality Review Board recommended Wednesday afternoon that no charges be filed in the accidental shooting death of 9-month-old Corbin Andrew Wiederholt.

The shooting occurred shortly before 9 a.m. on Monday in an Elmo home after the infant’s 5-year-old brother found a loaded .22-caliber Magnum revolver in a bedroom where the baby had been placed in a playpen.

Sheriff Darren White said the boys’ mother, Alexis Wiederholt, was at the house, the residence of family member Bill Porter, with all four of her children doing laundry. Porter was not at home at the time of the shooting.

Corbin, who suffered a head wound, was taken by helicopter to Children’s Mercy Hospital in Kansas City, where he was pronounced dead at 11:55 a.m.

The review board, which is required to meet within 48 hours after such tragedies, consists of Rice, Maryville Public Safety Director Keith Wood, Sheriff Darren White, County Coroner Vince Shelby and representatives from the County Health Department and Missouri State Highway Patrol.

The final decision with regard to criminal charges will be made by Rice, who said he will take the board’s decision very much into account.

“I can’t commit (to not filing charges) right now,” Rice said, “but the board’s recommendation weighs very heavily on me.”

Rice said he had examined the results of the preliminary autopsy, and said those findings agreed with witness statements about how the shooting occurred.

“It corroborates our understanding of what the events were based on what the witnesses told us,” the prosecutor said.

Rice described Corbin’s parents, Alexis and Brad Wiederholt, and other family members as grief-stricken and “in shock” following the accident.

He added that his own consideration of the case will continue until he has thoroughly reviewed written reports by witnesses, law enforcement officials, first-responders and others.

A final decision with regard to possible charges could take as long as a month, Rice said.

Also on Wednesday, more than 200 people gathered in the shelter house in Beal Park for a brief candlelight service in Corbin’s memory.

The crowd recited the Lord’s Prayer and sang “Amazing Grace, and Corbin’s aunt, Ashley Cady, released nine large blue balloons into the night sky, one for each month of the child’s life.

“Blue,” said Cady, her voice breaking, “was his favorite color.”