An Alabama woman was arrested earlier ths month and charged with capital murder in the death of her infant daughter.
Morgan Skye Thornton, 35, was initially charged with aggravated child abuse as the child, “who had been severely beaten and showed no signs of life,” was rushed to a hospital, where the boy eventually died, the Limestone County Sheriff’s Office said.
Deputies said Thornton “appeared to be intoxicated,” and they obtained search warrants for the home and for a blood sample from her. Those results are still pending.
After the baby boy’s death, the charge against her was upgraded, and she appeared in court, where she told a WAFF reporter that she had “swaddled” the boy and put him to bed at 7 p.m. “then something happened.”
Asked if she remembered what happened after that, she said, “Tried to give him CPR. That’s all.”
But testimony at a preliminary hearing this week revealed another story. An investigator said that Thornton told medics who arrived to try to save the baby boy that she had beaten him, and she reportedly woke up her husband and told him she’d just killed “a demon” before leading him to the baby’s blood soaked room.
The investigator said he arrived at the home at about 12:30 a.m. on August 1 to find Thornton outside, covered in blood. He found the infant in a bloodstained room.
Thornton was ordered held without bond, and the judge sent her case to a grand jury.
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[Featured image: Morgan Thornton/Limestone County Sheriff’s Office]
