A Utah couple allegedly left their 18-month-old daughter largely alone in her crib for four days prior to her death from complications of malnutrition and dehydration.
Mitchell Chestnut Murray and Carrie Marie Murray, both 31, were arrested for investigation of aggravated murder and aggravated child abuse, KSL reported.
Carrie Murray reportedly told police that her “biggest guess” about her daughter’s death was Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS), although she said Ruby was “older than typical for a SIDS death,” Law&Crime reported.
“It was her time I guess,” Carrie Murray allegedly said, adding the the feels “no guilt over this.”
The toddler, Ruby Marie Murray, died on March 19 when Carrie Murray called 911 and said she’d found the girl dead in the crib, according to KSL. Dispatchers tried to get the mother to conduct life saving efforts.
“Carrie informed dispatch that she was a nurse and she believed the child to be beyond help,” an affidavit says.
Paramedics who arrived on the scene said they believed rigor mortis had already set in.
As Cache County investigators looked into the situation, they found surveillance cameras that showed the child in a bedroom with a space heater running, set at 68 degrees. The girl was out of the crib in the last four days of her life for around six hours.
“The total time another human being was identified as being present with the child was 49 minutes and 15 seconds,” the sheriff’s office said.
Over 96 hours, the child’s diaper was changed just six times.
“The interior of the crib was very dirty with old pieces of food. Underneath the mattress was trash, wrappers and … waffle particles,” the affidavit said.
Carrie Murray told detectives that she last saw her daughter two days before her death. She didn’t see her the day before, she said, because she was working.
“Carrie was asked by investigators about (Ruby’s) food and water intake and were informed (Ruby) was provided a sippy cup in the morning and the evening. Carrie also informed investigators that (Ruby) was usually fed waffles for all of her meals and she typically ate them in her crib because they are not table people and (Ruby) never liked someone to feed her,” the affidavit said.
Murray also told investigators she hadn’t looked at the baby monitor in Ruby’s room in months and couldn’t describe her daily routine with her four year old son.
The baby’s father said he works from home and is often playing games on his computer when he’s not working.
Investigators say Ruby was out of her crib for five minutes for two diaper changes on March 17 and was never out of the crib on the day before her death. Her diaper was never changed that day.
The arrest affidavit said that the Murrays showed “a depraved indifference to human life, and knowingly engaged in conduct that created a grave risk of death” to the little girl, “thereby causing her death by failing to provide her with the appropriate nutrition and hydration leading to her death from dehydration and undernutrition.”
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[Featured image: Ruby Murray/Gillies Funeral Chapel]
