Two-year-old Amanda Runyon will be headed to Kentucky with her father, Eddie Runyon, after a St. Clair County judge on Tuesday signed a new order of protection that also granted him custody.
Amanda's mother, Dawn Obptande, agreed to extend the order of protection that keeps her away from Amanda and Eddie Runyon for the next two years.
The order, signed by St. Clair County Associate Judge Brian Babka, also granted custody to Runyon. Obptande agreed to allow Runyon to take Amanda to Kentucky, where he works as a coal miner.
Obptande was granted supervised visitation with Amanda, to which Runyon agreed. Amanda's grandparents, Pamela and Alan Dean Runyon, were at the hearing and agreed to supervise visitation between Amanda and Obptande.
"Amanda is the real winner today," said Pamela Runyon. "It's been nice just to be able to hold her again."
Amanda, 2, was released from Cardinal Glennon Children's Hospital in St. Louis on Friday following 17 days during which she had surgery to remove more than a foot of her bowel, had tears to her liver treated and spent six days on a breathing machine. Her mother's boyfriend, Kraig A. Monroe, was charged with beating the little girl repeatedly because she wouldn't stop crying.
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