By Gloria Drealomalicha
A Missouri mother has been sentenced to 13 years in prison after pleading guilty in connection with the death of her one-month-old daughter, who was found with severe burns after being placed inside an oven.
Mariah Thomas, 28, entered a guilty plea on Tuesday, September 22, in Jackson County, Missouri, to first-degree endangering the welfare of a child resulting in death.
The sentence was handed down more than two years after the February 2024 death of her daughter, Za’Riah Mae. Thomas will receive credit for time already spent in custody.
As part of the plea agreement, prosecutors dropped the first-degree murder charge Thomas had initially faced.
According to court documents, police were called to a Kansas City home on February 9, 2024, following a report that an infant was not breathing. Emergency responders found the baby with severe burn injuries and she was pronounced dead at the scene.
Thomas reportedly told investigators that she had been trying to put her daughter down for a nap when she mistakenly placed the baby inside the oven instead of her crib, according to the probable cause documents.
The case initially resulted in a first-degree murder charge, but that charge was dismissed under the plea agreement accepted by the court.
Thomas is now expected to serve more than a decade in prison, following the judge’s 13-year sentence.
The case has continued to draw attention because of the circumstances surrounding the infant’s death and Thomas’ explanation that the placement inside the oven was accidental.
Leave a Reply