Former jailer convicted of manslaughter in Cooper County Jail death
Matthew Sanders
COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)
A former corrections officer was convicted Tuesday of manslaughter in the 2023 death of a woman being held in the Cooper County Jail.
Robyn Pfeiffer was convicted Tuesday by a Callaway County jury of second-degree involuntary manslaughter, said Jackson County prosecutor’s office spokesperson Jazzlyn Johnson. A special prosecutor was brought in from Jackson County, Missouri, to work on the case.
Sentencing will be in April.
The trial began last week. Pfieffer was charged with manslaughter for the death of Brooke Bailey. Bailey died from untreated diabetes in her cell at the Cooper County Jail. Court documents say several jail workers told investigators with the Pettis County Sheriff’s Office that Pfeiffer brushed off Bailey’s complaints of feeling ill, saying the inmate was “playing games.”
Bailey was found dead in her cell with blood and vomit on the floor and on her clothing. Bailey was being held for a commitment to the Department of Mental Health.
A medical examiner found Bailey died from diabetic ketoacidosis and low sodium levels.
Another jailer charged in the case, Rachel Atherton, is scheduled to go to trial in April.