INDEPENDENCE, Mo. — Records obtained exclusively by KSHB 41 News show police visited the Independence apartment of Maria Pike 13 times in the two years before she and her daughter Destinii were shot and killed by police.
The file, obtained through a public records request, contains more than 100 pages of reports that show what led up to the police shooting Pike and her daughter on Nov. 7, 2024.
There were at least five police interactions during the two months baby Destinii was alive.
Records included interviews with witnesses who said the Missouri Department of Social Services made a safety plan for the baby before she was ultimately shot by police during an incident in which Pike waved a knife.
Descriptions of police body camera footage state an officer ran out of the apartment and down the street with the wounded baby in his hands to find another officer who ultimately drove them to the hospital where Destinii died.
The investigation: 'A history of incidents'
Investigators from the Eastern Jackson County Police Involved Incident Team, PIIT, conducted the investigation.
Police were called to the apartment complex on Nov. 7, 2024 for an alleged domestic assault. Pike and her boyfriend’s mother, Talisa Coombs, got into a fight over who was best suited to take care of baby Destinii.
In interviews with police, Coombs said she was at the apartment to check on the welfare of her granddaughter for an ongoing Missouri Department of Social Services case.
The PIIT investigation uncovered a history of incidents with police at the address and an ongoing case with the Missouri Department of Social Services' Children’s Division.
A limited summary of Pike’s medical records show she was homeless at times and, around Oct. 25, 2024, had fallen asleep on her baby in the woods off Missouri Highway 291 in Independence. As a result of the incident, first responders sent Destinii to Children’s Mercy and Maria to Centerpoint Medical Center.
In a conversation with Pike’s next of kin, an officer indicated Pike allegedly tried to “smother the baby” and was placed on a mental health hold. During the conversion, the officer said Pike left the hospital around Oct. 31 and “was not supposed to be around the baby.”
While at the hospital, health professionals noted Pike had poor insight and judgment and was at moderate risk for suicide.
The file included a report from a worker with the Jackson County Children's Division that Destinii was placed in a foster care home on Oct. 25, 2024, before being placed with her suspected father, Mitchell Holder.
Holder is the suspected father of baby Destinii and spoke exclusively with KSHB 41 after the death of his girlfriend and daughter.
When I interviewed Holder in late November, he admitted to having multiple personalities. He told the same thing to police during their investigation.
Holder’s mother, Talisa Coombs, said a Children’s Division employee created a safety plan for baby Destinii. The plan stated Pike should not be alone with the baby.
We’ve reached out to the Missouri Department of Social Services for clarity on this safety plan and the timeline of events leading up to Nov. 7. We have not heard back yet.
Police release footage of incident
Weeks after the death of Pike and Destnii, the Independence Police Department released highly-edited body camera footage of the incident.
Our requests for the full footage are still pending, but the investigative file gives a written account of the situation.
PIIT investigators interviewed both officers involved. Both officers recounted the mood of the apartment feeling off once they stepped in the door.
The officers were in the apartment to arrest Pike for alleged abuse against Talisa Coombs during the fight that prompted the call to 911.
The officers said they tried to get Holder to take the baby from Pike so they could have a conversation. The officer who spoke to Pike in the back bedroom of the apartment said she did not speak, but nodded her head when he asked about her safety and if she was injured.
Eventually, both officers, Pike, and Holder were in the back bedroom. The officers acknowledged they needed help from a mental health professional, so they called for another officer and mental health co-responder.
The officers discussed a potential “33 with DFS,” which is code for the emergency custody of a child.
In a description of the body camera footage, it said the officers told Pike, “We want to help out and we don’t want that baby to get hurt. That’s all we care about.”
The investigator noted the video shows Pike grimacing at officers before lifting her middle finger to both officers, then licking it. The video later shows Maria signing “L-I-E-S” to the officers.
Pike then reached to a side table near the bed, lifted a paper and cloth and revealed a large butcher-like knife. Within the next five seconds, according to the investigator’s account of the body camera footage, Pike lunged at one officer who backed up into the hallway and then lunged at the second officer who fired his weapon with his back against a wall.
As a third officer and mental health co-responder were about to walk through the door of the apartment, the shooting officer fired his weapon.
The shooting officer fired four times, hitting Pike and baby Destinii. After securing the bedroom, the second officer ran out of the building with the baby in hopes of taking an ambulance to the hospital, but the ambulance that was on scene to assist Coombs with her injuries had left.
The officer ran down the street to another officer who took them to the hospital in his car.
The third officer and shooting officer started life-saving measures on Pike. She eventually died at the scene.
The shooting officer told investigators he is Crisis Intervention Team certified, a field training officer and a firearms instructor for the department.
Investigators turned overthe months-long investigation to the Jackson County Prosecutor’s Office in early December. Earlier this month, Prosecutor Melesa Johnson did not file charges against the officer who fired his weapon.
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