MORGAN COUNTY, Ind. — Officials confirmed they found the body of missing 1-year-old Oaklee Snow in a dresser drawer at an abandoned building in Morgan County. On May 12, the coroner's office said DNA results confirmed the remains were that of the little girl.
Roan Waters, 25, who is the boyfriend of Oaklee's mother Madison Marshall, now faces charges which include murder and neglect of a dependent resulting in death.
Marshall, 22, already faced neglect charges in Indianapolis involving Oaklee's baby brother and now faces charges of neglect of a dependent resulting in death and assisting a criminal.
Now, newly-released court documents are shedding light on how Oaklee's mother led police to an abandoned home where she told police her boyfriend left the body of her daughter, as well as sharing details of multiple abuse allegations leading up to the toddler's death.
The Morgan County coroner classified Oaklee Snow's death as homicide by unspecified means.
Previous abuse claims
On Oct. 26, 2022, court documents show Marshall contacted the Okfuskee County Sheriff’s Office in Oklahoma to report allegations of physical assault by her boyfriend, Waters.
Marshall alleged Waters hit her daughter Oaklee, 1, in the face during an altercation the day before.
Waters then also reportedly hit Marshall in the head when she attempted to intervene in the assault. Deputies with the OCSO arrived at Marshall’s shared residence with Waters in Cromwell, Oklahoma, and attempted to make contact with the couple.
Waters allegedly answered the front door and asked the deputies if they had a warrant to be on his property. Before they could answer, he allegedly slammed the door in their faces. The deputies attempted to explain through the closed door the purpose of their presence was for a welfare check, but Waters allegedly yelled for them to "get the f*ck out."
As the deputies returned to their marked police vehicles, a blue-colored SUV pulled up next to them. Deputies identified the people in the SUV as Marshall, Oaklee and Marshall's other child.
Waters appeared to see Marshall’s interaction with the officers and left the home. Police reported he immediately began yelling, so the deputies could no longer hear what the people in the SUV were saying. Waters also began playing loud music to further disrupt their conversation.
The deputies eventually left the property after Marshall attempted to assure them that she and her children were not in danger.
Later that day though, Oaklee's biological father contacted the OCSO to inform them that Marshall wanted to make a formal report of abuse to them.
When deputies arrived, Marshall was present with her two children, according to court documents. Marshall told deputies Waters had hit Oaklee in the mouth with his hand Oct. 25 because she had been crying.
Marshall then reportedly lifted up Oaklee’s upper lip to show deputies a cut on the other side.
Marshall explained to deputies that after Waters hit Oaklee, she confronted him. He then allegedly slapped Marshall across the left side of her face. The impact left a contusion over Marshall’s left eyelid and cheek, which were visible to the deputies, according to court documents.
They photographed Marshall’s and Oaklee’s injuries, and documented the report in order to present the case to the Okfuskee County Prosecutor’s Office for possible charges.
Marshall reportedly requested that only charges be filed against Waters for his abuse against Oaklee, rather than her.
On Nov. 7, the District Court of Okfuskee County filed a warrant for Waters’ arrest for the charges of child abuse and domestic assault and battery in the presence of a minor.
But on Jan. 19, Oaklee's biological father reported the disappearance of Oaklee and another child from his home in Cromwell, Oklahoma.
He reported to the Seminole County Sheriff’s Office in Oklahoma that Marshall and Waters took his children from his home without authorization, and advised deputies they had likely fled to Indianapolis to be with Waters’ family.
According to court documents, Marshall and Waters, along with her two kids, arrived to stay at a rental home belonging to a family member of Waters in the 300 block of Albany Street in Indianapolis in January.
On March 3, the Greenwood Village Police Department in Colorado found and arrested Waters for an outstanding warrant after responding to a complaint regarding occupants of a room at a local hotel in Greenwood Village, Colorado.
Through their follow-up investigation at the scene of the arrest, officers determined Marshall had also been staying with Waters at the hotel, but found they had no reason to detain her at that time.
Additionally, they reportedly found no signs that children had been with them in Colorado.
Deputies from the OCSO learned of Waters’ arrest that day and requested assistance with interviewing him about the disappearance of the children, court documents showed.
Detectives interviewed Waters, who said he traveled from Oklahoma to Colorado with Marshall and her two children in his blue-colored Dodge Durango, which had an Indiana license plate.
The couple reportedly stayed at a "trap house" within the city of Indianapolis so he and Marshall could use drugs.
Waters then told detectives that he and Marshall had made the decision to abandon their other child at the "trap house," and told detectives they had also left Oaklee behind in Indiana before traveling to Colorado.
Waters added that a family member had recovered the other child from the house and had since turned the child over to the Indiana Department of Child Services.
Waters was unable or unwilling to provide any further information about the "trap house" or the locations of either child.
Oaklee remained missing at that time.
'Lies' to police recorded by detectives, abuse leading up to Oaklee's death
In the days following Waters' arrest in March, detectives in Colorado and Oklahoma tracked and reviewed phone calls he reportedly made from the Arapahoe County Detention Center in Colorado while awaiting extradition back to Oklahoma for abuse charges.
Documents revealed Waters frequently talked to his mother at that time, who was a current resident of Indianapolis.
During these calls, he allegedly told her he had lied to the police and had indeed been present when the children were abandoned in Indianapolis. He allegedly admitted to assisting Marshall with specifically dropping Oaklee off somewhere in those calls. However, he did not provide specific details.
Waters also allegedly spoke with Marshall at one point, when she told him she planned to change her name but never said what her new alias would be.
She explained that she had since decided to have family members take her back to Colorado and was coordinating those plans, but did not mention where Oaklee or the other missing child was.
Special agents with the FBI started taking reports of the previous incidents as documented by Oklahoma and Colorado authorities on March 6.
At that point, they believed Oaklee and the other child were in extreme danger.
Special agents then allegedly confirmed through family members the other child had indeed been abandoned, and recovered at 7:41 p.m. on Feb. 9.
A family member of the couple reportedly informed DCS case workers that Waters and Marshall had said they left the other child alone at the residence because they needed to take Marshall’s 1-year-old daughter, Oaklee, to the hospital.
Court documents showed family members feared for the safety of the child who had been abandoned at the home and, when they went to pick the other child up, ran into the couple.
That family member told police they did not see Oaklee when they picked up the other child, and that they did not believe that Waters and Marshall could have driven Oaklee to the nearest hospital and returned back to the house in that short of amount of time.
Marshall allegedly tried to stay with other family members after the other child was taken into DCS custody in February.
When Marshall arrived at a family residence asking if she could stay there in the days after Oaklee was missing, the family members told her that she could stay only if she told them where Oaklee was.
Marshall reportedly refused and left on foot. That was the last time family members said they saw Marshall.
Family members also told police they knew the couple used drugs and had once seen bruising along Oaklee's legs. While they searched nearby hospitals looking for the missing 1-year-old, they were unable to confirm Oaklee had ever been a patient.
An unidentified neighbor allegedly told family members they had seen Waters and Marshall leaving the house with what looked like a child wrapped in a blanket. He stated the child did not appear to be moving, talking or crying.
Detectives said they later verified Oaklee was never a patient at any local hospitals in Indianapolis, and they had not located a 1-year-old abandoned at any hospitals in 2023.
Family members then led police to a close friend, who had been present at the house the night the other child was picked up. The friend said the couple were avid drug users who typically smoked heroin, which would cause them to be nonfunctioning for prolonged periods of time, according to court documents.
That friend told police the couple rarely, if ever, held their children and instead would place them in front of the TV for the majority of the day.
He told detectives he never saw Marshall or waters provide the children with any love or affection. This friend also told police they saw bruising on Oaklee, and saw makeup around her face and mouth that appeared to cover a bruise on her face.
The friend told police that was the last time he saw Oaklee alive.
Authorities with the FBI and IMPD then executed a search of the Albany Street house and found numerous baby items on the first floor of the home.
A neighbor told police after that search, they saw a cleaning crew or work company arrive at the residence sometime in February.
Authorities then authorized a warrant for the phone they now believed was with Marshall on March 8. They also obtained the Dodge Durango the couple traveled to Indiana in, which family members said they had cleaned and which had smelled like "animal feces."
A cadaver dog indicated human remains may have been inside the interior of the Durango at one point.
Detectives also interviewed a friend who told them Marshall once said that she “never wanted Oaklee” and tried to explain how challenging motherhood had been for her.
Marshall also told the informant that she ultimately intended to go to North Carolina to be with another man.
On March 13, detectives went to a bus station in Indianapolis and confirmed Marshall had left for North Carolina.
Marshall was then arrested March 23 in Bunnlevel, North Carolina.
Shortly after her arrest, Marshall allegedly admitted to detectives it was Waters who had killed Oaklee on Feb. 9.
Marshall's first confession
Marshall told police she had been in the kitchen at the Albany Street home on Feb. 9 when Waters entered holding Oaklee, who was no longer wearing clothes and was not responsive.
Waters initially tried to put her in the bathtub to immerse her in cold water in the hopes of reviving her, according to Marshall.
When that failed, Marshall told police Waters wrapped Oaklee in a pink-and-black-colored blanket that had hearts on it, and put her in a rear passenger seat of the Dodge Durango.
Before leaving, Marshall said Waters informed her that he intended to take Oaklee to the hospital. Marshall told detectives that she tried to call 911 as Oaklee appeared to be dying, but Waters hit her hard enough to knock the phone out of her hands. He then allegedly disconnected the call.
According to Marshall, Waters returned to the home about an hour and a half later and only had the blanket Oaklee had previously been wrapped in. Marshall said Waters told her he left Oaklee's naked body in the woods.
Waters allegedly informed her that he had taken Oaklee to his “grandparents’ property” in Martinsville. He further explained that he had laid Oaklee’s body in the woods somewhere on their property.
Marshall stated that it could have been in an abandoned house either on or near the area, based on her recollection of Waters’ explanation that day and in the days that followed.
Marshall said that she was unfamiliar with his family outside of his mother and siblings. She claimed that she had neither met Waters’ grandparents, nor had she been to their Martinsville address, which was over 20 acres large and heavily wooded.
Marshall told detectives Waters was very familiar with that property.
Marshall initially denied leaving the Albany Street home with Waters on Feb. 9 with Oaklee’s body. However, she eventually admitted to detectives that she had indeed left with him to dispose of her remains.
She told police Waters drove his Dodge Durango onto the highway away from Indianapolis with the three of them in the vehicle. She remembered seeing a sign for Martinsville shortly before exiting the highway. She then recalled Waters motioned toward a home along a road and told her that it was his grandparents’ house.
Marshall said Waters allegedly drove down multiple other roads until they arrived at what appeared to be a dilapidated, abandoned home on top of a steep hill.
Marshall said Waters parked the Durango not far from the residence on a surrounding gravel road and carried Oaklee inside through a window.
Marshall told detectives she stayed in the vehicle while Waters disposed of Oaklee's body inside of the building. Marshall said she recalled seeing a white house nearby and a light-colored truck drive past her on the gravel road at one point.
She further recalled a light blue-colored 1970s Ford Mustang convertible parked near the structure at the top of the hill. She did not remember seeing any walkway or path that lead to the abandoned house from the gravel road.
Marshall said Waters then returned to the driver’s seat a short time later and took her back to the Albany Street home. She stated that when Waters returned to the Durango, he told Marshall that he either put Oaklee's body inside or underneath a dresser.
He then asked her if she knew where she was. Marshall responded that she thought she was in Martinsville, and he allegedly replied, “That’s all I need to know.”
After Marshall recounted the information to police, the FBI immediately searched many various areas of Martinsville in the days and weeks that followed to try and find Oaklee.
On April 20, officers extradited Marshall back to Indianapolis for her charges of neglect.
On April 21, detectives drove Marshall to the Albany Street home in Indianapolis, and Marshall immediately recognized it as the house she had stayed in with Waters and her children during portions of January and February.
At that point, Marshall elaborated on the ongoing physical abuse that Oaklee had endured at the hands of Waters in the months leading up to her death in February, and further detailed how they hid the child's body in an abandoned home.
Marshall also elaborated on her role the night Oaklee died.
'Oh my God. That’s it.' | Marshall led police to abandoned home
Waters would allegedly "whoop" or "spank" Oaklee as a form of discipline, Marshall told police. He had also occasionally "choked her out."
This included for reasons of her crying, urinating in her diaper, “holding a fork wrong," and other behavior common of a toddler, according to court documents.
Oaklee eventually stopped eating around Waters, Marshall said, because he regularly became aggressive with her when she would not eat at the pace he wanted her to.
Marshall attempted, time and again, according to her own testimony to police, to explain to him that she was only a toddler and did not understand what he was wanting her to do.
Marshall said the physical abuse he directed towards Oaklee would often get redirected toward Marshall if she would attempt to interfere with it.
The morning of Feb. 9, Marshall said she and Waters reportedly woke up to Oaklee crying because she was hungry.
Waters allegedly “threw” Oaklee onto the floor in response because her crying agitated him, Marshall told detectives.
According to Marshall, Oaklee's head hit the floor, which caused Oaklee to have a red bump above her right eye. Marshall then said she applied some of her own makeup to Oaklee's face to try to hide the bruise. That was the same makeup a friend previously told police they saw on the toddler's face on the last day they saw her alive.
Marshall said she prepared some ramen noodles for Oaklee as a snack because she was hungry again. Marshall said she then started preparing lunch for everyone.
When the friend left the home, Oaklee tried to follow them out, but the friend stopped Oaklee and told her they would be right back.
Oaklee then reportedly entered the kitchen and said, “Momma, eat!” according to Marshall.
Marshall said she told Oaklee that she was making them all food and to wait in the other room. Oaklee then walked into the living room, where Waters was watching TV, while their other child was lying on the floor in front of him.
Shortly thereafter, Marshall said she began hearing Waters yell at Oaklee. He was specifically ordering her to bounce on a bouncy ball. It had a handle on top, which allowed kids to lightly bounce up and down as they sat on it.
Marshall said she told him that Oaklee was likely too small to sit on it by herself.
Marshall recalled hearing Waters’ voice continually get louder and angrier as he told Oaklee to bounce.
Marshall told police she yelled back at him multiple times to calm down and that Oaklee probably did not understand what Waters was yelling at her to do.
After the fifth and loudest time that he yelled at her, Marshall said she stopped what she was doing in the kitchen and walked into the living room.
Marshall said she saw Waters standing over Oaklee as she sat trying to bounce on the ball.
Waters allegedly told Marshall to quit coming in there and sat back down on the couch. Marshall said she took his retreat as the matter being resolved, so she went back to the kitchen to prepare their meal.
Marshall did not recall hearing anything else from the living room until approximately 10 minutes later. At that time, Waters reportedly screamed for her twice.
Marshall said she had never heard Waters sound like that before, so she said she ran toward the living room. Marshall met Waters in the hallway as he held Oaklee in his arms.
She saw that Oaklee was not moving. Waters continually repeated that he “didn’t do anything” and that “it wasn’t (his) fault”.
Marshall said Waters allegedly initially refused to let her take Oaklee from him and stripped Oaklee of her clothes. Marshall said she could see Oaklee’s stomach and chest cavity extend as if she was trying to breathe air.
However, Marshall said she saw what appeared to be a mix of blood and spittle dripping from Oaklee's mouth when she tried to exhale, which created a gurgling sound.
Oaklee’s eyes remained closed throughout this time. Marshall said Waters placed her in the nearby bathtub and attempted to douse her in cold water to wake her up.
When that failed, Waters allegedly brought Oaklee into their bedroom and handed her to Marshall.
Waters then allegedly wrapped Oaklee in a blanket that a family member had recently purchased for Marshall. Waters placed Oaklee in the backseat of the Durango, so that her feet were facing the driver’s side and her head was toward the passenger side.
Marshall said Oaklee eventually stopped trying to breathe, and her lips had become blue. Marshall said she felt Oaklee's skin, which now seemed cool to the touch.
Marshall said she could also no longer feel a heartbeat as she held Oaklee.
After Marshall told authorities about the last moments of Oaklee's life, authorities took her to the area of Morgan County where they thought Oaklee might be.
By the time they reached a dilapidated wooden home on top of a step hill in Morgantown, Marshall reportedly stated “Oh my God. That’s it.”
She repeated this several times, according to court documents, and added that she was “100%” confident that this was the location where they had left Oaklee. She was hysterical and sobbing at this time, according to court documents.
Detectives entered, and said the interior was extensively cluttered with trash and debris, and was difficult to walk through. A sour odor emanated from deeper in the partially-exposed living room.
Detectives tracked the odor to a wooden dresser leaning against the living room wall near the kitchen.
Both parties departed from the home and obtained a warrant from the MCSC to search it for the remains of Oaklee. They identified the property containing the hill and the dilapidated house as being in the 5800 block of South Bear Wallow Road in Morgantown, Indiana.
ISP investigators then found the decomposing remains of a small child in the bottom drawer of the identified dresser.
In an interview conducted after the discovery of her daughter's body, Marshall informed detectives that she had actually exited the Durango with Waters and climbed the hill with him to look at the property the night Oaklee died.
Marshall insisted that she had remained outside of the abandoned house while he went inside, despite her previous testimony that Waters had done it alone.
Marshall and Waters then reportedly climbed back down the hill together. She re-entered the Durango as Waters removed Oaklee from the backseat.
Oaklee was still wrapped in the blanket as he carried her lifeless body over his shoulder and restarted his ascent up to the home, Marshall said.
Marshall told police that she did two “hard” lines of fentanyl to get as high as she possibly could after Waters left. Marshall said Waters came back with just the blanket several minutes later.
Waters next asked her if she knew where she was.
According to Marshall, Waters then allegedly stated, “I don’t need to kill you now”, when he was confident that Marshall would not tell anybody what had happened that day.