Parker faces preliminary charges of two counts of obstructing justice, one count of failing to report a dead body, and one count of improper disposal of a corpse.
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The coroner said that Shaylyn Ammerman died from homicide by asphyxiation but the exact circumstances surrounding the girl’s death remain unclear.
Little Shaylyn Ammerman was reported missing Wednesday morning from her father’s home in Spencer, with the girl’s dad and grandmother the last people known to have seen her alive.
Investigators said more charges could be filed against Parker as the investigation continues.
The toddler, born December 31, 2014, was reportedly taken from her crib in the living room between the hours of 2 a.m. and 8 a.m. Wednesday at 489 West Jefferson Street.
Justin Ammerman, the girl’s father, suspects that she was abducted in the middle of the night and said he was “just shocked that somebody would do this to me”. The FBI, Indiana State Police, Spencer Police Department and Owen County Sheriff’s Department were among the agencies investigating. There are several more persons of interest in the case, and police said it is far from over.
“It’s a sad day today for this community”, Durnil said.
“He’s been arrested, we don’t know what his actual role was right now”, Durnil said.
Her father, Justin Ammerman, said his mother put the child down for bed just before midnight Tuesday. “She was laying in her bed sound asleep, and then we went to bed, and we woke up and she was gone”. He also said the Federal Bureau of Investigation was involved in the case. “Please don’t feel that just because we’ve made a body, just because we’ve made an arrest, that this case is over”. State police cautioned that the investigation into the case could take weeks, if not months. “We can not draw a map right now of what happened when he left that house”.
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Court records show Parker has had past run-ins with the law in Owen County on charges of drug possession and criminal trespassing.
