New details have emerged about a Missouri woman who accidentally placed her 1-month-old daughter in an oven.
Mariah Thomas, 26, told her parents she put Za’Riah Mae Thomas down for a nap but “accidentally” placed her in the hot oven.
Thomas and her daughter lived with her parents in a home at E. 41st Street and Forest Avenue in Kansas City.
Za’Riah’s grandmother said Thomas was “in hysterics” when she called her before 1 p.m. on Feb. 9.
Thomas’s father told police he received a call around 1 p.m. that something was wrong with Za’Riah. He said he returned to the home immediately and could smell smoke in the house.
He found Za’Riah dead inside the crib, according to an affidavit.
Kansas City Police responded to a child not breathing report and found Za’Riah unresponsive in a car seat near the front door.
Officers observed severe burns all over the baby’s body. Her clothes and diaper had melted onto her skin.
A baby blanket in the home was also burned, the affidavit said.
Police initially investigated the baby’s death as a tragic accident.
However, police arrested Thomas on Saturday, Feb. 10, after investigators reviewed the medical examiner’s report.
Thomas is charged with the Death of a Child, a Class A felony. She faces 10 years to life in prison if convicted.
She is currently being held in the Jackson County Detention Center without bond.
Thomas’ friend said she had a history of mental problems and had the mental capacity of a child.
“Mariah had mental issues from what I know and didn’t have the mindset of an adult, she thought like a child,” the unnamed friend told the Daily Mail.
Thomas seemed to be a doting mom in posts on Facebook. But there were also signs of trouble in the home.
In one post, she wrote, “Mfs claim they my friend [but] don’t never check up on me or Za’Riah.”
In another Facebook post, Thomas said she lost a child on Dec. 30, 2022.
But a friend wrote that Thomas suffered a miscarriage.
