Mother faces felony charges for killing infant by putting her in oven instead of crib
A Missouri mother is facing criminal charges for placing her 1-month-old baby girl in the oven after she allegedly mistook it for the infant's crib. The mother is facing a minimum of 10 years in prison.
Mariah Thomas has been charged with endangering the welfare of a child in the first degree following the death of her daughter, Za’Riah. The police and emergency medical services discovered the infant's lifeless body with multiple burn wounds from being placed in the oven.
As KSHB-TV reported Saturday, Kansas City police officers responded to a call about an infant who was not breathing, and the child was later declared dead at the scene. Thomas lived with her parents whom she called after she realized something was wrong with the baby.
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Citing court documents, the NBC affiliate reported that the baby’s grandfather told detectives that Thomas called him on Friday afternoon, saying that "something was wrong with the baby and that he needed to return home immediately.” The grandfather said that he smelled smoke when he returned home and found his granddaughter dead in her crib, according to the report.
Thomas’ father explained to authorities that his daughter told him she put the baby inside the oven by mistake, thinking that she was placing the child in her crib. The infant’s grandmother said that she also received a phone call from Thomas in the afternoon, who yelled “hysterically” into the phone, as KSHB-TV reported.
Authorities took Thomas into custody, and she consented to the police searching her phone and taking a blood sample from her. As KSHB-TV noted, the charges Thomas faces amount to a class A felony, and she could end up serving 10 to 30 years in prison.
"We appreciate all first responders who worked this scene and the prosecutors who went to the scene in order to issue these charges," Jackson County Prosecutor Jean Peters Baker said in a statement. "We acknowledge the gruesome nature of this tragedy and our hearts are weighted by the loss of this precious life. We trust the criminal justice system to respond appropriately to these awful circumstances."
According to The Daily Beast, a friend of Thomas’ who asked to remain anonymous told the outlet that she does not believe her friend hurt her daughter on purpose. The friend claimed that Thomas suffers from mental illness, and she stopped taking her medication while she was pregnant. Thomas allegedly told her friend that she hadn't resumed taking her medication after she had the baby.
“Mariah has been dealing with mental illnesses since a child,” the unnamed source said, alleging that her friend started feeling lonely after having the baby.
“She thought everyone only likes her because her daughter was born, and she didn’t like that at all,” the friend said. “She wanted everyone’s attention, too, just like Za’Riah was getting attention.”
However, the anonymous source pointed to examples of her friend sharing on social media how much she loved her daughter. The friend asserted that, despite her friend’s struggles, Thomas enjoyed being a mom, and she would never deliberately hurt her baby.
“I know Mariah didn’t do it on purpose,” the friend told the outlet, saying that she could not believe the news when she heard it. “She didn’t mean to hurt her baby. She loved her baby dearly.”
According to The Daily Beast’s report, which cited a police affidavit, Thomas was trying to put the baby down for a nap in her crib when she placed her inside of the oven instead. When the authorities arrived at the scene, they discovered that the infant’s onesie had melted into her diaper, and the baby girl had “thermal” burns on her body.
Samantha Kamman is a reporter for The Christian Post. She can be reached at: samantha.kamman@christianpost.com. Follow her on Twitter: @Samantha_Kamman
