AURORA, MO - A Missouri mother is facing a child abuse/neglect charge after investigators alleged she threatened, struck, and pressured her daughter to falsely accuse her father of abuse during a vicious custody dispute.
KY3 News first reported that Amy Rinker, 40, of Aurora, Missouri, is accused of coaching the child to describe physical and verbal abuse by her father that the girl later told authorities never occurred.
The investigation began after a child abuse hotline report prompted a response by the Missouri Children’s Division and Aurora police back in April 2026. The girl told investigators she did not feel safe at her mother’s home because her mother had threatened to kill her, KY3 reported.
According to investigators, the girl described being made to practice allegations from written statements and rehearse them at night and on weekends. If she made mistakes, she was reportedly beaten. The girl also allegedly suffered emotional abuse, including being cursed and yelled at, put down, and called “stupid.”
The allegations describe a troubling reversal: rather than protecting her daughter from abuse, the mother allegedly used threats and physical punishment to compel the child to accuse someone else.
Some of the more troubling findings came from the counselor who interviewed the child.
“The counselor described initially observing the girl in what she called a ‘terrible trauma state.’ The counselor said the girl would keep her head down, would not make eye contact or speak. She described the [girl’s] condition as some of the worst trauma she had observed during approximately 30 years of professional experience,” KY3 wrote.
The girl’s account also cast new light on the custody proceedings involving her parents. Investigators reviewed earlier statements from the girl and her sister that were reportedly strikingly similar. Court officials had questioned whether the children’s accounts reflected their mother’s influence, according to the investigative reporting.
Court records separately show that the children’s father, Cody Rinker, was awarded primary physical custody in the couple’s divorce proceedings. Amy Rinker appealed, disputing the parenting arrangement and the handling of evidence, including material concerning alleged domestic abuse.
This past July, the Missouri Court of Appeals dismissed her appeal because of substantial deficiencies in her legal brief.
For the father, the daughter’s reported statements represent a potentially significant development in a long-running family dispute. The child told investigators that she felt safe with her father and was happy living there because she “no longer had to lie.”
Amy Rinker denied threatening or coaching the child and denied keeping a binder of rehearsed statements, investigators said.
She is reportedly being held without bond at the Lawrence County Jail, with a court appearance scheduled later this month. The charge remains an allegation, and Rinker is presumed innocent until proven guilty.
Writer Eddie Molina has over 25 years of combined LEO/military experience and is now the host of The Veteran Experience Show, available on YouTube and Spotify.
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