Therapist warned DCF that KS toddler might be Munchausen victim before he died
A therapist warned the state’s child welfare and protection agency that a Clearwater mother might be suffering from Munchausen syndrome by proxy — and that her 15-month-old son might be in jeopardy as a result — two months before the toddler died while in her care.
An affidavit released Friday says the therapist, a licensed clinical professional counselor, made a report to the Kansas Department for Children and Families on June 27, 2025, saying that Matthew Whitton might not be safe with his mother, Shanna Kay Whitton, because her behavior could be connected to the condition.
The therapist reported that “a team of social workers and doctors may be deliberating the case, however, she felt the need to report due to being concerned about Matthew’s future safety,” the affidavit says. The therapist went on to say in the report that initially she thought Whitton’s struggles “were a cause of a traumatic brain injury (TBI) and seemingly low IQ,” the affidavit says.
But she later worried that “this may be a case of Shanna needing attention, and thus a possible case of Munchausen by Proxy,” the affidavit says.
Munchausen syndrome by proxy, also called medical child abuse, is a rare form of maltreatment where someone seeks attention by falsely claiming that a person in their care is ill or injured. The condition is perhaps best-known in the U.S. because of publicity surrounding Gypsy-Rose Blanchard, who conspired with her then-boyfriend to kill her mother in 2015 after years of forced medical treatments she didn’t need.
A summary of abuse or neglect reports involving Matthew that DCF provided to The Eagle earlier this year says someone made lack of supervision complaints against Whitton on June 27, 2025 — the same day as the therapist’s report — for sleeping with him in an unsafe way and after he nearly drowned in a bathtub on June 14, 2025.
DCF deemed the complaints unsubstantiated. The summary provided to The Eagle did not give any reason for that determination.
The summary also doesn’t say who lodged the complaints. But the affidavit says Whitton “said she stopped going to therapy because she believed her therapist made reports to the DCF.” She has denied harming her children in law enforcement interviews, the affidavit says.
By that time, Matthew had been the subject of several 911 calls, emergency room visits and unwitnessed or unexplained “asphyxia events” — and also had spent a month in the custody of his grandmother at DCF’s request, according to the affidavit.
The document doesn’t say exactly why DCF wanted the boy to live with his grandmother in November and December 2024.
But Matthew’s living arrangement changed just weeks after a nurse who examined him expressed concern “about Shanna’s ability to parent independently without support,” the affidavit says.
About two weeks before the therapist warned DCF that Matthew could be a Munchausen syndrome by proxy victim, he was hospitalized after Whitton claimed he slipped and fell in a bathtub while trying to turn off the water faucet. According to the affidavit, Whitton said she would fill up the tub so then-13-month-old Matthew could “practice swimming” before pool season.
Child protective services was contacted because police thought it odd that Whitton took Matthew out of the bathtub and put a diaper on him before first responders showed up, the affidavit says.
A month after the therapist warned DCF that Matthew might be at risk, Whitton allegedly started a fire in his nursery near an outlet behind his crib. A Clearwater firefighter blamed the July 26, 2025, fire on an electrical problem, the affidavit says.
No fire investigator followed up to confirm the cause until after Matthew died.
The investigator who ultimately reviewed reports and photographs from the fire ruled out electrical causes after seeing no tripped breakers or internal damage to the outlet or wiring, the affidavit says. Instead, he determined it was intentionally set on the floor near the crib.
A month later, on Aug. 25, 2025, Whitton called 911 saying Matthew was unconscious after choking on a meatball. When Clearwater police arrived at her apartment, they found Matthew on his back in the living room, wearing a T-shirt with “MAMA” written on the front.
Although Whitton told police that Matthew ended up face down in a highchair tray full of SpaghettiOs, the boy’s face, shirt and shorts were clean except for a spot of tomato sauce on the left side of his forehead, the affidavit says.
Whitton told law enforcement that she had fixed the SpaghettiOs for dinner for Matthew and placed him and the pasta on the highchair sometime before 7 p.m.
She said her son started eating the noodles without her knowledge as she prepared green beans and a fruit cup and that she turned after hearing Matthew make a noise. At that point, she said, she saw Matthew’s head on the highchair tray, the affidavit says.
But she thought he “was being a ‘goofball’ and eating without using his hands,” so she continued preparing the beans, according to the affidavit.
Whitton said she later noticed Matthew making a gurgling sound and that “something was not right” about the way his head was lying on the tray, the affidavit says.
She told law enforcement that she picked him up, patted his back and thought he was breathing. She said she patted Matthew’s back again, put him on the floor and used a “LifeVac” suction device on his mouth after he turned blue, the affidavit says. She told law enforcement she then made a video call to a friend to ask for advice and tried to use the suction device a second time before calling 911.
Neither first responders nor medical staff at the hospital found food or anything else blocking Matthew’s airway, and Whitton said she was only able to extract small food particles from her son’s mouth with the suction device, the affidavit says.
He died in the hospital a few days later.
Matthew isn’t the first child of Whitton’s to die after asphyxia. Her 2-year-old daughter, Gypsy Rose Whitton-Marley, died in July 2024 after reportedly choking on grapes. Records show the little girl also had unwitnessed asphyxia events, including the grape choking and an incident the day prior where Whitton reported finding her unresponsive while sleeping with a blanket and possibly a plastic bag over or near her face.
Whitton is charged with first-degree felony murder, child abuse, aggravated child endangerment and aggravated arson in connection with Matthew’s treatment and death.
Investigators have said they are revisiting the circumstances surrounding her daughter’s death. But Whitton is not charged in connection with it.
This story was originally published June 26, 2026 at 7:03 PM.
