28 July 2023
TOPEKA (KSNT) – The Shawnee County District Attorney’s office says a man accused of killing his 2-year-old daughter was convicted Friday.
Jeffrey J. Exon was convicted of all charges by a Shawnee County jury following a six-day trial in April, 2023, according to the DA’s office. On Friday, July 28, the court said Exon was given the maximum sentence of 683 months, or almost 57 years, with the Kansas Secretary of Corrections.
On Jan. 5, 2021, law enforcement was called at 10 a.m. to a home in the 3500 block of SW 10th Street in Topeka in reference to an unresponsive child, according to the DA’s office. Upon arrival, officers found Exon’s 2-year-old daughter unresponsive, cold to the touch and with an appearance that she had been dead for several days.
An autopsy confirmed the girl died of malnutrition, according to the DA’s office. An investigation showed that Exon suffered from addiction issues and would spend days without feeding or attending to his children. During the trial, Exon’s son, aged six, provided testimony that his dad locked them in their rooms for several days without food while he “slept.”
Exon was charged with the following crimes, all of which took place between Dec. 26, 2020 and Jan. 5, 2021:
First degree murder, committed during an inherently dangerous felony
Second degree murder
Aggravated endangering a child
Failure to report the death of a child