Left: Joshua Teeter mug shot; right, Faith Walker. Macon County Sheriff’s Office.
Police in Missouri have now charged a day care-owning couple with multiple counts of child abuse after one of the owners was already facing criminal charges for allegedly breaking a 1-year-old’s femur in a fit of rage when the child wouldn’t put away a toy.
Macon County police first charged 28-year-old Joshua Teter with the femur-breaking allegations stemming from an alleged incident at the day care run by his fiancé, Faith Walker, last week. Teter was hit again this week with different charges involving another incident from Nov. 1, 2022, according to local CBS affiliate KTVO.
This time, police say Teter is charged with abusing a 3-year-old who was crying and upset after his grandmother had dropped him off. Walker came to Teter exasperated that she could not calm the child, police said. When Teter stepped in, the child spit in Teter’s direction and he allegedly backhanded the child so hard, that the toddler was knocked off of his feet.
Walker allegedly did not see Teter smack the boy but reportedly saw them together later that same day as her fiancé was holding onto the boy’s arm while they were walking.
The child fell, she allegedly told police, forcing the boy’s arm to jerk erratically while still in Teter’s grip. His upper arm ended up being fractured, according to X-rays secured by the child’s family and later shared with authorities.
Missouri ABC affiliate KMIZ reported Tuesday that there was no day care registered in the state under Walker’s name. Court records reportedly only described her as the owner and Teter as her fiancé.
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Teter was charged for the first time last week after the Macon County Sheriff’s Office opened an investigation into repeated and strange injuries cropping up at the day care Walker ran. It was a hotline call that alerted them to the femur-breaking incident.
The family said their son had a spiral fracture of the femur.
KMIZ reported that Teter confessed to police that he caused the break and that he said the child was not “putting away a carpet square” properly, so out of frustration, he yanked the boy by his arm and to the floor forcefully. The child’s body was twisted so hard as Teter pulled on him that police said it resulted in the fracture of his femur.
He also allegedly told police he has a history of anger issues. Walked was also allegedly aware of these problems, but police said she expressed not knowing how to deal with them.
Teter is being held on a $500,000 bond at the Macon County Jail and all told, faces two counts of child abuse. Walker is being held on $250,000 and faces two counts of child abuse and two counts of second-degree endangerment of a child’s welfare.
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