Army sergeant is indicted for murder after ‘beating two-year-old girl to death at illegal day care’

A US Army staff sergeant has been charged with killing a two-year-old girl on military base in Missouri. 

Sgt. Kevin Long, 40, is accused of killing the child in 2019 while he and his wife were caring for her while running a day care out of their home on Fort Leonard Wood base.

In addition to first-degree murder, Long was also charged with lying to federal authorities during a murder investigation by claiming he was unaware of Army regulations against running a day care on the base.

The federal indictment was unsealed and made public on Friday after Long’s arrest on June 29 and subsequent court appearance.

Sgt. Kevin Long, 40, is accused of killing the child in 2019 while he and his wife were caring for her while running a day care out of their home on Fort Leonard Wood in Missouri

Fort Leonard Wood is a US Army training base located in the Missouri Ozarks. Long is accused of running an illegal day care from his home on the site

He remains in federal custody pending a detention hearing on July 6, according to a press release from the US Attorney’s Office in Western District of Missouri.

The indictment alleges Long killed the girl on November 6, 2019 by incurring ‘blunt force injuries’. 

It also states that the abuse was ‘part of a pattern of a pattern and practice of assault’ against the girl.

Fort Leonard Wood is a US Army training base in the Missouri Ozarks. According to Military Installations, it houses around 5,400 active duty members and more than 12,000 family members.

Because it is a jurisdiction of the United States the case is being prosecuted in a federal court.

Under federal law, any murder committed in the perpetration of child abuse is considered murder in the first degree.

Long is being represented by Assistant Federal Public Defender Brian D. Risley and could face the death penalty or life imprisonment if found guilty the murder charge.