TAMPA — A federal indictment unsealed this week accuses a former U.S. Marine Corps sergeant and his wife of causing the death of their 2-year-old daughter in 2022 while they lived at MacDill Air Force Base.
Kody Glenn Simon and his wife Kateri Ann Simon, both 30, were charged with manslaughter in the girl’s death.
They were arrested last week near Cleveland, Ohio. The couple remained jailed pending a hearing on continued detention and return to Florida, federal court records show.
Daughter Maeve Simon died after her parents placed a suitcase filled with heavy books on top of the pack-n-play playpen in which she was sleeping, according to a public report from the Florida Department of Children and Families.
According to the report, a suitcase apparently fell into the playpen during the night and grabbed the girl by the neck. She died from suffocation.
The report documents an investigation in which child protection officials concluded that inadequate supervision contributed to the child’s death.
“The parents intentionally placed objects on top of the infant’s pack-n-play to keep the infant indoors,” investigators wrote. “While they did not do it for discipline purposes and did not intentionally intend to harm her, their actions ultimately led to her death.”
At the time, the Simmons family lived on an Air Force base on the southern edge of South Tampa. They had two other children, ages 4 and 6.
Before the 2-year-old’s death, the family said she was having trouble getting out of her crib at night, the report said. The girl crawled out and “made a mess in the room” to avoid waking other family members, the report said. Worried she might get hurt, they put her inside a pack-n-play and started putting her to sleep.
They took Penn’s pad and placed a mattress inside it, but the girl was able to crawl out again, according to the report.
They made multiple attempts to keep the girl indoors. They tried using a mesh cover that zips open and closes near the top. They tried to put the baby girl in a sleep sack baby suit, which restricted the movement of her legs. They tried putting a foam children’s play sofa over the playpen.
But no matter what they did, the girl managed to escape.
The parents then began placing suitcases filled with more than 50 pounds of books on top of a Styrofoam sofa and playpen with a mesh cover, the report said. They soon planned to put the girl to sleep under the bunk where her brothers were sleeping.
Cody Simon told investigators he intended to put his children to bed between 8:30 p.m. and 9 p.m. on Nov. 26, 2022. Cody Simon said he remembered hearing the girl “babbling” for about 15 minutes, the report said. Then she became quiet. he thought she was asleep.
His wife, who had been working late, returned home around 10:30 p.m. and went to bed, the report said.
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The next morning, Sunday, my parents woke up to prepare breakfast. Kateri Simon entered the toddler’s room around 9:30 a.m. and found the girl’s neck trapped under a suitcase and other objects.
The mother immediately took her daughter outside. The girl was unresponsive. She screamed for her husband, who then called 911, the report said.
Paramedics tried to revive the girl, but she was pronounced dead at the hospital.
The coroner classified the death as a homicide.
Cody Simon told investigators he had “several beers” on the night of Nov. 26 but was not intoxicated, the report said.
The report notes that pediatric records show that the girl was developmentally delayed for a child her age, except in the area of motor skills. Particular attention was paid to language delays. The girl had been receiving speech therapy for six months. There was no evidence that the parents discussed the girl’s sleep problems with her doctor.
Investigators said her siblings appeared to be well cared for. Neither of them had similar sleep problems.
The family previously lived in North Carolina, Hawaii, and Ohio. Investigators found no prior documentation of child welfare concerns.
Florida child protection authorities referred the family to in-home support services after the girl’s death. Parents also received parenting, mental health, and grief counseling.
Cody Simon was court-martialed last February and pleaded guilty to child endangerment, according to records obtained by the Tampa Bay Times. Military authorities dropped charges of manslaughter and negligent homicide. He was sentenced to one year in prison and discharged from the military for poor behavior.
The family then moved back to Ohio.
A judge appointed an attorney to represent the couple after their arrest last week, according to court records. Lawyers for each could not be reached for comment.
