Lawyer guardian to be appointed for Belcher baby

INDEPENDENCE, MO. (AP) - A probate commissioner has ordered the appointment of a lawyer to represent the interests of the daughter of a Kansas City Chiefs football player who killed the girl’s mother before taking his own life.

At a hearing Friday, Jackson County commissioner Daniel Wheeler also changed the status of a petition by Zoey Belcher’s grandmother to gain custody of the girl to contested. The 4-month-old’s maternal grandparents in Texas have filed a petition in that state also seeking custody of the girl, who is staying with relatives in Texas.

Jovan Belcher killed his girlfriend, Kasandra Perkins, on Dec. 1 in their home, then fatally shot himself.

Belcher’s mother, Cheryl Shepherd of West Babylon, N.Y., is seeking custody of the girl and to be named administrator of her son’s estate.

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