A 26-year-old Kansas City mother has been charged for “accidentally” baking her newborn to death. Kansas City Police Department officials alleged that the woman placed her infant in the oven for a nap instead of her crib.
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According to a press release shared on Saturday (February 10), Jackson County Prosecutor Jean Peters Baker said the mother has been identified as Kansas City, Missouri resident Mariah Thomas. Per the release, police received a 911 call around 1:30 p.m. on Friday (February 9) that reported “a non-breathing infant” at a home on Forest Avenue.
The Kansas City Fire Department, which also responded to the scene of the alleged crime, pronounced the 1-month-old Za’Riah Mae dead upon their arrival.
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According to a criminal complaint, the newborn was found “in the living room lying in a car seat just inside of the front door [and] had sustained apparent thermal injuries on various parts of her body. She was clothed in a bodysuit over a diaper. The clothing appeared to have melted onto the diaper, and it was very dirty, possibly burned on the backside.”
The complaint also said that a “baby blanket with significant burn marks” was also found on the property and retrieved by police. Authorities said they were told that Thomas was “putting the child down for a nap and accidentally placed the infant in the oven instead of the crib.”
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According to police, the baby’s grandfather returned home and could smell smoke inside and soon found the infant dead. Thomas, who lived with her parents, allegedly claimed that while her mother and father were at work, she tried to put the infant down for a nap, but placed her in the oven instead of her crib.
Thomas’ father said he rushed home from work after his daughter called him around lunchtime asking him to hurry home because “something was wrong with the baby.” When the father asked Thomas what happened, she said, “I thought I put Za’Riah Mae in her crib, and I accidentally put her in the oven.” According to the Daily Mail, a friend told them, “Mariah had mental issues from what I know and didn’t have the mindset of a adult, she thought like a child.”
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Jackson County Prosecutor Jean Peters Baker reported that the charged Kansas City mother is being held at the Jackson County Detention Center and is now facing a “Class A felony of Endangering the Welfare of a Child in the First Degree, Death of a Child.” According to Missouri state law, if Thomas is found guilty , she will face a minimum sentence of 10 years and a maximum of life.
Baker said, “We appreciate all first responders who worked this scene and the prosecutors who went to the scene in order to issue these charges. 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.”
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