The Missouri police sniper who mistakenly shot and killed a 2-year-old girl — and whose name has been masked by a lawsuit — is now a Missouri State Highway Patrol trooper.
For almost four years, the city of Joplin fiercely guarded the identity of a SWAT sniper who shot Clesslynn Crawford in the head during a hostage standoff.
For two of those years, the officer and Joplin have fought KCUR and The Midwest Newsroom in court to hide the officer's name.
And it remained secret until now.
His name is Keaton Siebenaler. He was hired by Joplin police in 2016 and, when he left the department in August, he was making $50,180 a year, according to city records.
He will now patrol Vernon and Barton counties, about an hour south of Kansas City, as a state trooper, according to the MSHP. He was sworn in Friday along with 18 other new troopers who entered the academy in January.
The MSHP said it was aware Siebenaler killed Clesslynn during the hostage standoff.
"The Patrol recognizes the lasting impact this case has had on those directly affected and will always approach a situation like this with compassion and professionalism," Capt. Scott White, head of public information, said in an email. White said the MSHP conducted a "full background investigation" that included his work with the Joplin police, and Siebenaler met "all the legal and professional standards for employment."
A KCUR and Midwest Newsroom investigation revealed Siebenaler is now 36, was on the Joplin SWAT team for five years and served as team leader for two years.
But on March 26, 2022, he was known as Sniper 1.
That evening Siebenaler and his Joplin SWAT teammates were called to Baxter Springs, Kansas, to back up local police, sheriff deputies and Kansas Highway Patrol troopers at a hostage taking.
Taylor Shutte, 27, and Eli Crawford, 38, were having one of their many domestic fights in Crawford's tiny trailer on the edge of town.
Shutte called police. Soon after they knocked on the door, Crawford shot her in the head with a pistol as she tried to flee.
Also in the trailer was 2-year-old Clesslynn Crawford, the couple's daughter.
Eli Crawford retreated into the trailer as Shutte lay dead on the front steps.
Then he started firing at police.
"Nobody returned fire because there was a child inside the camper trailer," a Baxter Springs police officer told Kansas Bureau of Investigation agents.
Two hours later, after Crawford had fired almost 100 rounds at police, Siebenaler — Sniper 1 — killed Clesslynn with "a gunshot wound entrance in the left eye," according to her autopsy.
She was wearing pink pants, a gray shirt and a blue tutu.
After Clesslynn was killed by Siebenaler, Crawford shot himself.
Siebenaler was to provide a statement for this story through his lawyer, Sean McCauley from Kansas City.
The day after Siebenaler was sworn in as a highway patrol trooper, McCauley emailed KCUR's lawyer to say there would be no comment. "I wanted to let you know that my clients have reconsidered and they will not be providing a statement," he wrote.
A KCUR and Midwest Newsroom investigation uncovered several mistakes by Seibenaler.
'Nobody was ever held accountable'
Since Clesslynn was killed, her family and many in the city have called for Sniper 1's name to be released.
"If it had been you or I, we've had our name blasted all over," said Tedra Nichols, Clessie's aunt and sister to Shutte. "Nobody was ever held accountable by the city of Joplin."
Joplin and Cherokee County, Kansas, did settle a lawsuit by the family for $1.5 million.
Still, the death haunts Nichols almost every day. She said time has eased the trauma, but just a little. "The hard part is still going out to the grave and having to decorate for every holiday. Those things don't get easier."
At a protest in downtown Joplin in April 2024 some called for Sniper 1 to be fired.
"I have an almost 2-year-old daughter here," said Austin Hagston, who organized the march. "As a father and expectant father, I'm just terrified knowing that the officer is still out there, still on duty, somebody who is kind of a loose cannon."
City records obtained with the Missouri Sunshine Law confirm Siebenaler left the department in August 2025. State records show he retains his Class A peace officer's license, which means he can still work in any Missouri police department, although the state said he currently does not have a law enforcement job.
That is one reason KCUR and The Midwest Newsroom fought to unmask Siebenaler, so that other departments would know his background. "What if that officer applied to be the chief of police? What if that officer applied for a job in another department?" said attorney Bernie Rhodes, who represents The Midwest Newsroom and KCUR.
It was Siebenaler who sued the city on November 20, 2023, to redact his name from the KBI officer-involved shooting report, which was obtained with the Missouri Sunshine Law. The city agreed, which is when KCUR and The Midwest Newsroom intervened.
The case was set for trial on April 8 in Jasper County Circuit Court. But Siebenaler's lawyer proposed dropping the lawsuit in return for holding the story until April 14.
Now that Siebenaler is no longer with the Joplin Police Department, does Nichols feel any better?
"Yes and no. That's kind of hard," she said. "He is a human as well. Did he leave because he was, you know, having emotional ups and downs? Does he feel bad? I'm sure. But the fact remains that he's been hidden this whole time. And he's been protected this whole time," she said.
KCUR and The Midwest Newsroom pieced together what happened the night Clesslynn was killed by reviewing the 800-page KBI investigation, the 32-page report from the Cherokee County Attorney and interviewing two former federal law enforcement snipers.
Also reviewed was the FBI's Advanced Rifle Training guide, considered the gold standard for snipers. On page one it says this: "The law enforcement sniper must be absolutely sure of the identity of any target to be engaged."
Sniper 1's mistakes
Sunset came at 7:35 p.m. the night Clesslynn was killed, so by the time Siebenaler was in position, it was dark. His rifle had a night vision attachment on the scope. Even though night had fallen, he removed it and "placed the device in his cargo pocket," the KBI wrote. He told investigators he thought his target was "fairly well illuminated."
This was a mistake, according to the former federal law enforcement sniper interviewed for this article. "Why you would not use that night vision capability is beyond me," he said.
Siebenaler was about 100 yards away from the camper where Crawford was holding his daughter and firing at police.
The camper briefly went dark. When the lights came back on, Siebenaler told investigators he saw his target on the left side of the window. "The lights that were in the trailer were behind him, so it was a silhouette."
At 9:25 p.m., he fired one round through the camper window. The crime scene analysis said it hit exactly where he aimed.
He thought he shot Eli Crawford in the chest.
Instead, he shot 2-year-old Clesslynn in the head.
The Cherokee County attorney's report that exonerated Siebenaler only said, "evidence suggests Clesslynn was standing on the couch at the time of Sniper 1's shot."
But the former federal sniper is clear that firing at a silhouette is "careless."
"I would never take a shot blindly at a silhouette without being able to identify what that silhouette is. How do you know that the silhouette doesn't have a little kid in front of him?"
The man who wrote the book for FBI snipers went further.
"My impression at this point is that this officer's decision to shoot would be difficult to justify under the standards for use for deadly force," Urey Patrick told KCUR and The Midwest Newsroom.
After he took the shot, Siebenaler told investigators he was summoned to the command post with his rifle. There he met a Cherokee County detective who took custody of the weapon.
"I asked what was going on, what he could tell me, and he told me I shot the kid," according to the KBI transcript. "I probably was distraught and I kept on saying that I'm screwed," Siebenaler said.
Remembering Clesslynn
For a short time, there was an effort to rename a park in Joplin after Clesslynn.
It was led by Nathan Dagley, a paramedic by trade, who knew Clesslynn's parents and the fraught relationship between Eli Crawford and Taylor Shutte.
Clesslynn regularly stayed at his house.
"I used it for personal exchanges between Taylor and Eli throughout their court battles," he told KCUR and The Midwest Newsroom, describing his role in helping Clesslynn's parent adhere to custody arrangements.
As a paramedic in the region, he also knew many of the cops involved.
"I see all sides of it. It's just it's so sad that the whole thing's just a failure," he said.
In February, he started a Change.org petition urging the city council to memorialize Clesslynn. It got almost 300 signatures.
"This effort is not about division or revisiting the past. It is about shaping the future. It is about making sure our shared spaces carry reminders that children's safety and wellbeing are responsibilities we all hold," he wrote.
He admits a park has little chance of passing the city council, so he bought two small plots of land from the city for about $6,000. The property is across the street from the Ozark Memorial Park Cemetery and about a half mile from Joplin police headquarters.
When the deal closes, he plans to put up a bench or two with a memorial plaque to Clesslynn.
Nichols called Dagley "a godsend" and said a memorial is important.
"It's important that she is honored and remembered not only for her own sake, but for her family so we feel like a little kind of closure somewhere, you know?"
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