DATELINE: KANSAS CITY, Missouri — Police responded Friday afternoon to a report of an infant not breathing. A probable cause statement said responders found the child with apparent burns. The child was pronounced dead at the scene.
The statement said responders were told by a witness that the mother, Mariah Thomas, 26, “put the child down for a nap and accidentally placed her in the oven instead of the crib”. The statement did not offer an explanation about how that mistake was made.
“We acknowledge the gruesome nature of this tragedy and our hearts are weighted by the loss of this precious life,” Jackson county prosecuting attorney Jean Peters Baker said in a statement. “We trust the criminal justice system to respond appropriately to these awful circumstances.”
Baker said that police got a 911 call about an infant who wasn’t breathing and responded to Thomas’ home to find the 1-month-old with burns.
‘The victim was located in the living room, lying in a car seat just inside the front door,” a police affidavit said. “The victim had sustained apparent thermal injuries on various parts of her body.
“She was clothes in a bodysuit over a diaper. The clothing appeared to have melted into the diaper, and it was very dirty, possibly burned on the backside. A baby blanket with significant burn marks was located in the living room and was collected.”
Mariah Thomas has been charged with class A felony of Endangering the Welfare of a Child in the 1st Degree, Death of a Child.
