Gainesville, MO. – The Ozark County Jail recently released a statement of an incident that happened on April 15, 2024. A woman was arrested after she left her daughter in an overheated car for 26 minutes so she could play a slot machine inside a convenience store.
According to the probable cause affidavit, The Ozark County Sheriff’s Office was dispatched to a convenience store after receiving a call about a little girl left in an overheated car. When they arrived at the store they found the little girl buckled in the turned-off car’s back seat, locked inside, with all the windows rolled up. They located the mother, identified as 39-year-old Corinna Walker, inside the store. During an interview, she stated that she had arrived at the store and left her daughter in the back seat while she went inside to grab a pizza. She then withdrew some cash from the ATM to play at the slot machine. She then stated that she didn’t sit at the slot machine and stood so she could see her daughter. She stated that she never worried because her daughter never looked like she was crying or fussing.
Walker is now being charged with one felony count of first-degree endangering the welfare of a minor. She has been released from the Ozark County Jail and is awaiting her court date on August 27.