Mariah Thomas and her 1-month-old baby, Za’Riah, live with Mariah’s parents.
Za’Riah’s grandparents leave for work just before 8 a.m. on Friday. After 1 p.m., Mariah Thomas calls her mother at work, hysterically screaming something is wrong with the baby. Her mother tells her to call 911. Mariah Thomas reports her baby daughter is not breathing.
When Mariah Thomas’ father comes home, he smells smoke and runs to the baby’s crib. He sees that Baby Za’Riah looks burned. He picks her up, realizing his granddaughter is dead. Mariah Thomas says she was putting Za’Riah down for a nap and thought she put her in the crib, but accidentally put her in the oven.
First responders arrive to treat what they think is an infant who isn’t breathing, but instead, they find the baby with what appears to be thermal injuries on various parts of her body. She is wearing a bodysuit over a diaper, but the clothing appears to have melted onto the diaper and it appears very dirty, possibly burned on the backside. A baby blanket with significant burn marks is found in the living room.
Thomas has been charged for allegedly placing her child in an oven, resulting in the death of the 1-month-old child. Mariah Thomas faces the Class A Felony of Endangering the Welfare of a Child in the First-degree, death of a child.
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[Feature Photo: Za’Riah Mae/Facebook]
