OSKALOOSA – An Iowa woman was found guilty by a jury of killing her baby daughter.
Alicia Ritenour, age 21, was found guilty last month in Mahaska County District Court of felony first degree murder and felony child endangerment resulting in death.
The Oskaloosa Police Department and the Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation had arrested Ritenour on February 4, 2014 in a death investigation regarding an 18 month-old girl in Oskaloosa, Iowa. Ritenour was the mother of Ava Ritenour, 18 months old, who died as a result of blunt force head trauma.
On Friday, January 24, 2014, at approximately 2:11 p.m., the Oskaloosa PD received a 911 call from Apartment 224 at the Southern Hills Apartment Complex located at 18th Avenue East in Oskaloosa. Upon arriving at the scene, Officers found Ava Ritenour deceased.
According to a complaint, a witness stated that he heard a “loud thump” during the middle of the previous night coming from the room where the infant sleeps, while the mother was alone in the room with the infant. Witnesses established that that the defendant was alone again in the morning around 8:30 AM with the infant and no other person had contact with the infant until she was found shortly after 2:00 PM on January 24th. The infant had been deceased for a significant period of time when found by law enforcement.
An autopsy was performed at the Iowa Office of the State Medical Examiner on the body of Ava Ritneour on January 25 and 26, 2014, by Dr. Michele Catellier, who determined the cause of death to be trauma to the head.
The manner of death was classified as a homicide.
Alicia Ritenour remains in custody in the Mahaska county jail and will be sentenced January 2.
SUBJECT IS INNOCENT UNTIL PROVEN GUILTY
