Missouri 'meth couple' charged after two-year-old boy dies from overheated room

A Missouri couple that made and used methamphetamine in their home has been charged in the death of a 2-year-old boy abandoned in an overheated room, according to court documents.

The boy, Braydon Barnes, of St. Charles, Missouri, was put in his crib on Friday with a room heater running. He was left unattended for more than 38 hours, a court filing on Tuesday said.

The couple, Lucas Barnes and Kathleen Marie Peacock, found the boy dead on Sunday. An autopsy showed that Braydon was malnourished and thin and died from hyperthermia, or extreme heat, the filing said.

Peacock, who is pregnant, and Barnes told a detective they had used methamphetamine recently. They had helped produce it in the home in the week before Braydon's death.

The methamphetamine lab was found in garbage outside the home, the filing said, and the home was condemned as unfit for habitation.

Barnes and Peacock were charged with child abuse resulting in death and manufacturing an illegal drug in a residence with a child, prosecutors for St. Charles County said.

(Reporting by Ian Simpson; Editing by Dan Grebler)