INDIANAPOLIS, IN — A 27-year-old man from Indiana will avoid a murder trial after agreeing to plead guilty in the death of 1-year-old Oaklee Snow, whose remains were discovered hidden inside a dresser in an abandoned house. The plea agreement spares Roan Waters the possibility of facing more serious charges, including murder.
Waters will plead guilty to one count of neglect of a dependent resulting in death and two counts of neglect of a dependent, according to a plea agreement accepted this week by a Marion County judge. His sentencing is scheduled for June 13.
The case stems from a horrifying sequence of events that began in January 2023, when Oaklee and her 7-month-old brother were taken without permission from their home in Oklahoma by Waters and Oaklee’s mother, Madison Marshall. The children’s father, Zachary Snow, reported them missing, prompting a cross-state investigation.
Authorities later found the infant boy abandoned in a known drug house and safely returned him to his father. However, Oaklee’s fate remained unknown until April 2023, when Marshall — in custody at the time — led investigators to an abandoned home in Morgantown, Indiana, where the girl’s body had been concealed inside a dresser.
According to police, the toddler endured extensive abuse before her death. Marshall told investigators that Waters routinely “whooped” Oaklee for toddler behaviors such as urinating in her diaper or eating too slowly. He allegedly choked her on multiple occasions, and the girl eventually stopped eating altogether due to his aggression.
Marshall said the abuse turned fatal on February 9, 2023. After the child died, Waters allegedly hid her body rather than reporting her death.
Waters was arrested in March 2023 at a Colorado hotel. Initially, he faced multiple serious charges, including murder, battery, and neglect resulting in serious injury, but the May 22 plea deal dismissed the harsher charges in exchange for his guilty plea on lesser counts.
Madison Marshall is also facing charges related to Oaklee’s death and is expected to be a key witness in Waters’ sentencing.
The tragedy sparked outrage and renewed scrutiny of child welfare systems across state lines.
