There have been allegations against a young American mother that she baked her newborn daughter to death in the oven.
When it was discovered that one-month-old Za’Riah Mae had “burn wounds,” Mariah Thomas, 26, was charged with endangering the welfare of a child, as stated in an arrest warrant.
The day following Thomas’s birthday, on Friday, authorities were called to the mother’s Kansas City residence due to reports of a youngster who was not breathing.
The baby was coated with burns and had “blackened” clothing that had melted over her diaper when they arrived.
“Very bubbly” and “smiling all the time” was how one of Thomas’s distraught friends described Za’Riah to DailyMail.
The friend stated, “From what I understand, Mariah had mental health issues and didn’t have an adult mindset she thought like a child.” She said that she last spoke with the mother on Monday.
Za’Riah’s grandfather reported to the police that at approximately one in the afternoon on Friday, he received a call from her mother informing him that “something was wrong with the baby and he needed to return home immediately.”
When he got home, he smelled smoke right away and saw Za’Riah dead in her crib. According to court documents, Thomas informed him that she had “accidentally” put her in the oven.
Police found Za’Riah inside her house in a car seat, with “apparent thermal injuries on various parts of her body.”
She was “very dirty, possibly burned,” with a diaper that looked like it had melted into her bodysuit. Additionally, a burned baby blanket was found and removed as proof.
After being taken to the police headquarters, Thomas used her Fifth Amendment right to silence during the interview. However, she gave detectives permission to take a blood sample and view her phone data.
Thomas displays herself on social media as a devoted mother who called her daughter her “princess.”
