KANSAS CITY, Mo. — The KSHB 41 I-Team has been looking into 5-year-old Grayson O'Connor's death since he fell out of a downtown apartment building in November 2023.
Newly obtained records show that despite concerns about his welfare and multiple calls, the Missouri Department of Social Services' Children's Division closed Grayson's case.
Two weeks later, he died.
The state provided KSHB 41 a document listing each time the state came into contact with Grayson and his mother, Corinne O'Connor.
O'Connor is set to go on trial in June in connection with her son's death.
From 2017 to 2023, the state received seven calls about Grayson's welfare.
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The final notification the state received was on Nov. 27, 2023, when he fell out of his 17th-floor apartment window.
In that instance, the state found his mother neglected him.
The state didn't come to that conclusion in any other call.
Concerns persist
When KSHB 41 first started looking into Grayson's death, we talked to Rep. Aaron Crossley (D-Mo.), who is also a licensed social worker.
"I need to know what their plans are, what they've already got in place," Crossley said in December 2023.
After that, he met with DSS leaders to talk about ways to improve.
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KSHB 41 spoke with Crossley again in April 2025. He looked over the state's list of calls.
"It wasn't like this happened in a vacuum and a couple days later the most tragic thing happened," Crossley said. "It was a systemic failure that could have been warded off a long time before Grayson's death."
Documented history
DSS first opened a case in 2017.
According to the agency, O'Connor had unstable housing and prior drug problems.
Several other calls came in about her allegedly screaming at Grayson, leaving him at an intersection, getting into a physical fight with someone in front of him, having little food at the apartment, and her feeling overwhelmed about taking care of him.
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In 2017, DSS provided housing resources, counseling, parenting classes, mentoring and conducted announced and unannounced visits at the home.
In 2021, DSS closed the case. That same year, DSS received another call and tried to contact O'Connor "without success."
In 2022, DSS tried again to offer services, but O'Connor refused, saying she was "not in need of services."
"They should have stuck with it," Crossley said. "Just because a family is not engaging with the process doesn't mean that is the time for the state to step back; it should be a time for them to step in more."
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The list the state provided doesn't have exact dates, but we know in 2023, the state reopened the case. This was after someone called the hotline saying O'Connor screamed at Grayson and left him at an intersection.
The state's document says the "mother appeared to be under the influence of drugs/alcohol, was confused, erratic and disheveled."
The state received two more calls.
Then, on Nov. 9, 2023, Grayson's case was closed due to his "mother's failure to progress and unwillingness to continue services."
Two weeks later, Grayson was dead, and his mother was charged with endangering the welfare of a child.
"There was a failure to escalate the case, despite a pattern of harm in the child's life," Crossley said.
Long waits for records
KSHB 41 did not receive any of the actual reports in Grayson's file, just the list the state compiled.
We've requested Grayson's file in its entirety.
Crossley said he is glad DSS released what it did, saying it appears the agency's new leadership is putting more emphasis on transparency.
KSHB 41 initially put in a records request for Grayson's file shortly after his death. DSS informed us it may take until April 2024 for us to receive the records.
In April 2024, KSHB 41 followed up on our request, and DSS denied it. A spokesperson said they would not release any information about Grayson's case until after the investigation concluded.
Recently, KSHB 41 followed up again, and we were provided the list of calls with a letter from the agency's new director, Jessica Bax.
Bax said when she started in her new role, she "became aware that several requests to DSS for child fatality information had not been released to the requestor(s) in a timely manner," prompting her team to act.
Following Grayson's death, Bax said DSS reviewed its family services cases, provided more training for its staff, and is working on more supervisor accountability.
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