Olivia Jansen: Kansas 3-year-old bled to death after being battered by father who tattooed her name on his head

KANSAS CITY, KANSAS: New details have emerged into the case of Olivia Ann Jansen, with police saying the three-year-old child likely bled to death from a cut in her head after allegedly being battered by her father. Howard Jansen III, who has a tattoo of the toddler’s name on his forehead, reported her missing but was arrested for her death after her body was found.

Howard has been arrested as the prime suspect in the murder of Olivia. He has been charged with felony murder in the first degree in his daughter's death. In addition to this, the father also faces charges of aggravated child endangerment and desecrating a dead body along with his girlfriend Jacqulyn Kirkpatrick, court documents stated.

On July 10, Howard reported Olivia missing and an Amber alert was issued. The 29-year-old father told investigators that he last saw Olivia at 11 pm on July 9, when he went to sleep at his home on the 4400 Block of Gibbs Road. He added that the next morning when he woke up at 5:30 am, she was nowhere to be seen. Howard said he found the door to his house open and reported her missing three hours later after he could not find her. Kansas City Police Department spokesman Tom Tomasic said at the time they heard "several stories throughout the day" and that "none of them made sense."

However, hours later, police found the body of the girl child in a shallow grave in a wooded area after receiving a tip-off. At the time, the death cause was not revealed. "We are deeply saddened to announce that in the last 30 minutes our officers have discovered a body in the 3400 Block of Steele that we believe to be that of missing 3-year-old Olivia Jansen. We thank everyone who shared our posts and reached out with tips and offers of assistance throughout the day. For that reason, we wanted to share this information as swiftly as possible. This is not the outcome we wanted, in fact, it is the worst outcome,” police said.

A police affidavit has stated that Olivia’s injures showed clear signs of physical abuse. The official document added that the child’s arms, legs, and face had bruises and she had severe bleeding from her brain, which led her to death. A Kansas Department for Children and Families summary shows that the state was contacted twice by people concerned about Olivia's well-being in the months before her death on July 10. 

Meanwhile, the toddler’s grandparents said that the tragedy could have been prevented if social services had intervened. Speaking against the social services, grandfather Howard Jansen II said: “Torture, torture, they kept her from us … we called DCF (Kansas Department for Children and Families) … we knew it was bad but we didn't know what we are learning now."

While the child’s grandmother, Elisabeth Jansen, said she met Olivia in March and the toddler told her she did not want to go back to her father. "She was always so unhappy to go home. She would frown and say, 'You love me? You’re not mad at me? I come back? I come back?' (sic) and I told her 'I will hurt anybody who that keeps you away from me’,” Elisabeth said.