Body camera footage from the officer who responded to the earlier call shows Dunafon holding an iPhone with the ‘exact same’ design, court records show. — Photo by Nicolas Thomas on Unsplash
A Missouri man is accused of breaking into a home and assaulting a child asleep on the couch, then leaving his “distinct” cellphone at the scene, police said.
Addison James Dunafon, of California, Missouri, was arrested Oct 3 on burglary and assault charges, court records show. Attorney information for Dunafon was not available.
At about 2.30am that day, residents of a Jefferson City home heard their 11-year-old child, who was asleep on a couch, start screaming, court records show.
The child said a man had come in through the unlocked front door and tried to silence their screaming by putting his hand over their mouth, according to the probable cause statement.
A nine-year-old child in the next room also saw the man and started screaming, causing the man to flee, according to court records.
At the scene, a cellphone with a “distinct” design was found on the floor next to where the 11-year-old was sleeping, court records show.
Police said they were able to used provider data to identify the owner as Dunafon.
According to court records, police had interacted with Dunafon “hours prior to the burglary” at a park near the residence, however the probable cause document does not specify what that interaction was about.
Body camera footage from the officer who responded to the earlier call shows Dunafon holding an iPhone with the “exact same” design, court records show.
When told his phone was found inside the residence, Dunafon denied owning a phone, despite providing authorities with a cellphone number earlier in a police interview, according to court records.
Dunafon told police he wanted to call his attorney, whose number he said was in the phone they were holding, “providing evidence” that the phone did belong to him, authorities said.
Dunafon was out on bond for a prior “window peeping” stalking case and is also being investigated in connection with another burglary in the same neighbourhood, police said.
California, Missouri, is about a 125-mile drive southeast from Kansas City. – The Charlotte Observer/Tribune News Service
