Jury finds Kansas City woman guilty of severely beating 2 children

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (KCTV) - A jury has found a Kansas City woman guilty of charges that were filed after she severely beat two children she was supposed to be taking care of.

The jury found 40-year-old Nancy Russell guilty of four counts of first-degree domestic assault, as class B felonies, and four counts of armed criminal action.

According to the Jackson County Prosecutor’s Office, she will be sentenced at a later time.

Court documents state that, in October of 2017, a detective with a police department in Arkansas alerted police in Kansas City, Missouri, of possible child abuse. A relative had come forward, saying that one of the child victims had been abused at a home in the area of E. 53rd Street and Hardesty Avenue.

The child was reportedly walking with a limp and had gashes on the head.

Forensic interviews conducted in Arkansas revealed that Russell had hit the children with an extension cord and metal pipe “that had a spike on it.”

Court records state one of the two children was taken to a hospital in Arkansas and “treated for possible infection of... wounds and rhabdomyolysis, ‘which is a breakdown of the muscle tissue due to severe beating.’”