Report: Topeka mother stabbed her child

TOPEKA (KSNT) – A recently released police report sheds light on the Shawnee County Sheriff’s Office’s investigation into the deaths of a local child and his mother.

On June 20, officers responded to a home in the 3900 block of Southwest Worwick Town Road in the Sherwood Lake neighborhood, according to a written news release from the sheriff’s office. They found 9-year-old Zerick Ozuna with multiple wounds to his chest and neck. First responders pronounced him dead at the scene.

Officials said Ozuna’s mother, Shyla Goracke, 29, was taken to a hospital after Ozuna’s death in police custody. She died four days later, on June 24, at a Kansas City hospital.

According to an incident report from the Shawnee County Sheriff’s Office, Goracke killed Ozuna in an act of premeditated and intentional first-degree murder. The report states that the boy may have suffered internal injuries and severe lacerations caused by a knife or other cutting instrument. Goracke is suspected of having taken drugs at the time of the crime, according to the report.

The incident report characterizes the case as resolved through extraordinary means. The Federal Bureau of Investigation defines an extraordinary clearance as a specific situation in which elements outside of law enforcement’s control prevent the investigating agency from arresting and formally charging an offender. In this case, the report gives the date of the extraordinary clearance as June 24, with the offender’s death.

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