Deanna Hankins, 37, was booked into the Saline County jail on August 13, 2026, according to the county's public jail roster, which records the same date for the arrest.

The roster lists five charges: murder in the second degree; domestic assault in the first degree; endangering the welfare of a child in the first degree, first offence, recorded on the roster as involving sexual conduct; abuse or neglect of a child resulting in death, which the roster cites to section 568.060 of the Missouri Revised Statutes; and possession of a controlled substance. The roster lists no bond for any of them, and publishes no case number, docket number or court. Apart from the one citation noted above it publishes no statute references, and it states no felony class for any charge.

Under the Missouri Revised Statutes, section 565.021 provides that a person commits murder in the second degree by knowingly causing the death of another person, by causing a death while acting with the purpose of causing serious physical injury, or where a death occurs during the commission, attempted commission or flight from any felony. The statute makes the offence a class A felony. Section 568.060 addresses abuse or neglect of a child and provides that the offence is a class A felony where the child dies as a result of injuries sustained from conduct chargeable under that section. Those classifications are what the statutes provide upon conviction, and are not statements about this case.

The roster gives the Saline County jail as the holding facility and does not name an investigating agency. Local reporting by KMBC attributes the arrest to the Lafayette County Sheriff's Office, places the investigation in Higginsville, and reports that a second adult was taken into custody in the same matter. That reporting, published at the time of the arrests, listed a set of charges that did not include second-degree murder; the county's booking record, captured for this report, does. Charges can be added, amended or withdrawn after an arrest, and this account follows the official booking record for what is currently charged.

No disposition is recorded. The available records establish a booking and five charges and nothing beyond that: no plea, no finding, no hearing outcome and no filed case number is reflected in what the county publishes.

A booking record describes allegations made by law enforcement. It does not establish guilt and it is not a conviction. Hankins is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty in a court of law.