Mother sentenced for fatally starving 16-month-old child who weighed 9 pounds when she died

PHOENIX (TCD) — A 48-year-old mother will spend 37 years in prison for the abuse and death of her 16-month-old daughter, who weighed only a few pounds when she died in 2013.

Maricopa County Attorney Rachel Mitchell announced Jan. 23 that a judge sentenced Denise Snow-Ingram for the malnourishment, medical neglect, abuse, and death of her toddler, identified by the Arizona Department of Child Safety (DCS) as Miriam Ingram. A jury convicted her in November 2023 of second-degree murder and child abuse.

According to the DCS, on July 10, 2013, Snow-Ingram called 911 and told authorities she found her daughter unresponsive. The fire department responded to her home and transported the victim to Phoenix Children’s Hospital, where she later died. The toddler suffered from severe malnourishment and rickets, a disease caused by a vitamin D deficiency.

According to prosecutors, seven physicians testified in court and said rickets is often caused by a “lack of exposure to sunlight and an inadequate diet.”

Mitchell said the child had been fed only “oatmeal, watered-down apple juice, and some fruit while being offered no source of protein or calcium after breastfeeding was stopped.”

Prosecutors argued that Snow-Ingram “intentionally fed her daughter an inadequate diet” and failed to seek medical care for the child.

Snow-Ingram will serve 20 years for the second-degree murder charge and 17 years for child abuse with the sentences to be served concurrently.

Mitchel said in a statement, “The defendant allowed her daughter to physically waste away because of her neglect and mistreatment. No child should be treated this way.”

The victim’s father, identified by the DCS as Ernest Ingram, was sentenced in 2022 for manslaughter and child abuse in connection with the case.

DCS launched an investigation into Snow-Ingram in 2012 after they received a report of possible neglect. She reportedly arrived at a hospital with seizures on March 16, 2012, and gave birth to Miriam Ingram when she was 37 weeks pregnant.

Snow-Ingram reportedly never received prenatal care and gave birth to her other six children at home. The DCS said Snow-Ingram never brought her children to see a doctor, and she failed to obtain birth certificates. Officials were concerned her newborn baby would not receive necessary follow-up care, according to the DCS. The investigation was completed and ultimately the DCS determined Snow-Ingram’s children were safe.

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