A woman in Kansas, United States, has been accused of killing her newborn baby by putting her inside an oven. The accused, identified as 26-year-old Mariah Thomas, has now been charged with a felony. The police found out about the incident after receiving a call from the woman about a "non-breathing infant".
They rushed to the scene immediately and found the one-month-old baby, Za'Riah, with burn wounds on her body. She was pronounced dead at the scene. Her mother was arrested and charged with endangering a child, resulting in her death.
The complaint filed by the police stated the baby was found "in the living room lying in a car seat just inside of the front door". She "had sustained apparent thermal injuries on various parts of her body".
"She was clothed in a bodysuit over a diaper. The clothing appeared to have melted onto the diaper, and it was very dirty, possibly burned on the backside," read the complaint.
Meanwhile, her friends have claimed that Thomas suffers from mental health issues and that her situation has worsened since she gave birth to the baby. "Mariah has been dealing with mental illnesses since a child," a friend told The Independent.
"She thought everyone only likes her because her daughter was born, and she didn't like that at all," the friend said. "She wanted everyone's attention, too, just like Za'Riah was getting attention".
The friend added that Thomas didn't mean to hurt her baby and that she loved her baby dearly. The woman may receive a minimum sentence of 10 years and a maximum of life if found guilty.
In a similarly horrific incident reported from Atlanta, Georgia, a woman was accused of killing two of her children by putting them in an oven.
In October 2017, Lamora Williams called the children's father on FaceTime to show him their charred corpses. Williams placed Ja'Karter Williams, 1, and Ke'Younte Penn, 2, in an oven on October 13, 2017. The baby boys died from severe burning.
The couple had another son together, three-year-old Jameel Penn Jr, who was also in the home with Williams but was left unharmed, as was her six-year-old daughter, fathered by another man.
Friends and family had then claimed that Williams suffered from undiagnosed mental health issues, which were compounded by her father's death and the pressures of caring for four young children with little outside help.
As of June 2023, she was still in custody at the Fulton County Jail, where she had been detained since her arrest on October 14, 2017. She is facing two charges of murder as well as charges of child cruelty, lying to the police, and concealing a death.
