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Baby Elaina Steinfurth may finally see justice after all, and it's about time! The Ohio 1-year-old who went missing in June was discovered, dead, in September. And now her mother, Angela Mories Steinfurth, and mom's boyfriend, Steven King, are officially facing charges in the little girl's death.
The charges? Murder and aggravated murder, respectively. And that's not all.
King, who was indicted in August on obstruction of justice, now stands accused of tampering with evidence and abuse of a corpse.
For a mother to be charged with murdering her own child?
It's horrible.
It's heartbreaking.
And yet, it's about time.
The charges come five whole months after Elaina's father, Terry Steinfurth, went to pick up his two daughters from their mother and was told that he couldn't have Elaina just then. Treated as a missing persons investigation at first, Elaina's case has always circled back to Angela. She was first arrested on charges of child endangerment on June 12, just weeks after her daughter's "disappearance." That charge was dropped, only to be replaced by claims of obstruction of justice.
But it wasn't until police discovered badly decomposed remains in a box in a garage on King's property on September 5, then later identified them as Elaina's, that the real question began to be asked: will there be justice for this little girl?
Obstruction of justice charges, even if they ended in conviction, surely weren't enough to make up for the death of a 1-year-old.
Then again, nothing really "makes up for" the death of a 1-year-old, does it? There's a void left in this world, and there is no punishment harsh enough.
Still, a little girl cannot be forgotten. And the best way to ensure that is to haul the people who were responsible for her death into a courtroom and make them pay.
Now we have the answer to when it will all happen. The new question? How? How can the case against Angela Mories Steinfurth and Steven King provide justice for this baby Elaina?
Is it with life in jail without parole? The death penalty (capital punishment is legal in Ohio)?
Image via National Center for Missing & Exploited Children
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