An infant in Missouri died when her mother mistakenly put her down for a nap in an oven, a prosecutor said Saturday.
Mariah Thomas of Kansas City was charged with endangering the welfare of a child.
Court records do not yet show if Thomas has an attorney, and no phone listing for Thomas could be found.
Police responded Friday afternoon to a report of an infant not breathing.
A probable cause statement said responders found the child with apparent burns, according to a news release from the Jackson County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office.
Kansas City mother said she ‘accidentally’ put baby in the oven, killing her: Prosecutors https://t.co/TEXfh6yDUu
— The Kansas City Star (@KCStar) February 10, 2024
The child was pronounced dead at the scene.
According to the U.K. Daily Mail, the mother is 26 years old. Her daughter’s name was Za’Riah.
Should this mother face more serious charges?
The outlet quoted a source it identified as a friend of Thomas as saying the woman had mental problems.
“Mariah had mental issues from what I know and didn’t have the mindset of an adult, she thought like a child,” the friend said.
Police got a 911 call about an infant who wasn’t breathing and responded to the home to find the 1-month-old with burns.
“The victim had sustained apparent thermal injuries on various parts of her body,” police said. https://t.co/1OT228RDGl
— The Daily Beast (@thedailybeast) February 11, 2024
She said the last time she spoke to Thomas was on Monday.
According to the Daily Mail, police were called by the baby’s grandfather, who’d received a call from Thomas at about 1 p.m. that there was something wrong with the child.
“On returning home [he] immediately began to smell smoke and found Za’Riah dead in her crib,” the newspaper reported.
A charred baby blanket was taken into evidence by police, according to the Daily Mail.
The probable cause statement said responders were told by a witness that the mother “put the child down for a nap and accidentally placed her in the oven instead of the crib.”
The statement did not offer an explanation about how that mistake was made.
“We acknowledge the gruesome nature of this tragedy and our hearts are weighted by the loss of this precious life,” Jackson County Prosecuting Attorney Jean Peters Baker said in a statement.
“We trust the criminal justice system to respond appropriately to these awful circumstances.”
The Western Journal has reviewed this Associated Press story and may have altered it prior to publication to ensure that it meets our editorial standards.
