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Inset left: Shanna Kay Whitton (Sedgwick County Sheriff”s Office). Inset right: Matthew Whitton (Obituary). Background: The apartment complex where Whitton allegedly killed her son in Clearwater, Kan. (Google Maps).
A mother from Kansas has been arrested, accused of fatally asphyxiating her young son just a month after allegedly setting fire to his bedroom. This tragic case has drawn significant attention in the Sunflower State.
Shanna Kay Whitton, aged 31, faces serious charges including felony murder in the first degree, child abuse, aggravated child endangerment, and aggravated arson. These charges stem from the death of her 15-month-old son, Matthew Whitton, as detailed in a revised criminal complaint accessed by Law&Crime. Initially, Whitton confronted eight charges related to arson back in October 2025.
The tragic events unfolded on August 25, 2025, at the Mimosa Arms Apartments on East Janet Street in Clearwater, a small town located roughly 25 miles southwest of Wichita. Reports from the Sedgwick County Sheriff’s Office indicate that Matthew died after allegedly choking on food.
When officers arrived at the scene, they discovered the toddler unconscious and not breathing. They administered immediate first aid until emergency medical services arrived, transporting him to a Wichita hospital where he was listed in critical condition. Sadly, Matthew succumbed to his injuries three days later.
As they probed the circumstances surrounding Matthew’s death, detectives from the sheriff’s office revisited a prior incident, a fire that had occurred in the same apartment complex in July 2025. This review was part of an ongoing investigation, as reported by Wichita-based ABC affiliate KAKE.
That fire, it turned out, had been started in Matthew’s bedroom while the boy was inside, according to law enforcement. Fire investigators further determined the fire had been intentionally set.
The child’s autopsy was finally completed in January of this year and the medical examiner’s office determined he died of complications from hypoxic ischemic encephalopathy caused by an intentionally inflicted asphyxia event — or, in other words, that he was intentionally deprived of oxygen. His manner of death was ruled a homicide.
Whitton has been in custody since her arrest on six counts of aggravated arson and two counts of arson, court records show.
Earlier this month, detectives presented their findings on Matthew’s death to the Sedgwick County District Attorney’s Office.
“These investigations take time because we have a responsibility to get them right,” Sedgwick County Sheriff Jeff Easter told KAKE. “Our detectives are committed to putting the pieces together and being a voice for children who can’t speak for themselves.”
The sheriff’s emphasis on children in the plural sense was not just a turn of phrase. In comments to KAKE, the sheriff said detectives are also investigating the death of Whitton’s 2-year-old daughter Gypsy Rose, whose obituary refers to her as Jolene “Jojo” Naomi.
Gypsy died in July 2024. Easter said detectives will apprise prosecutors of additional facts as they become available.
Gypsy Rose Whitton, also known as Jolene “Jojo” Naomi Whitton (Obituary).
In the latest criminal complaint, the defendant is accused of impeding “the normal breathing or circulation of the blood by blocking the nose and/or mouth of” Matthew in August 2025. The complaint also looks back to the fire and accuses Whitton of placing Matthew in a “situation in which the child’s life, body or health is endangered” in July 2025.
“They took him out on the gurney and he never came back home,” Whitton’s downstairs neighbor recently told KAKE.
The neighbor recalled the defendant’s original alleged excuse about Matthew choking after eating food — but said even that explanation was subject to changing narratives by the mother.
“First, she told people it was a meatball from spaghetti with sauce,” a neighbor continued. “Then the Spaghetti-Os with sauce in it.”
The sheriff suggested other instances of abuse as well.
“A couple of those occasions where he nearly drowned, another type of choking incident and another one was on July 26, which was an apartment fire,” Easter told the TV station this week.
The neighbor also remembered the day of the fire.
“Everybody was outside, and she stood there quietly, and said, ‘his nursery caught on fire,’” the neighbor told KAKE. “When they came to take her away, the Lord answered my prayers.”