Here on Stolen Lives, we discuss brutal and heartbreaking crimes against children.

Themes may include child murder, torture, and sexual domestic and child abuse.

I do try to remain respectful for the babies in these stories.

And leave out unnecessary details that honestly, none of us need to know to understand the frustration

of why and how this ever happened.

However, if you find any of these themes triggering this podcast may not be for you.

Listener discretion is advised.

This week's episode is a listener's suggestion.

Thank you to Amanda for bringing Mariah's story to my attention.

Due to the sheer amounts of suggestions I receive, stories I want to cover tend to go on the back burner.

So when someone suggests a case that I've followed since the start and is forever in my heart,

there is a sense of that I'm not the only one that remembers this sweet baby.

And Mariah's case is an example of this.

Her story is one that is largely forgotten about in the true crime space.

I literally could not find another podcaster or YouTuber that has taken the time to pull together the heartbreaking facts of Mariah's story. Until now.

December 2017. The body of a three-year-old girl is found in a creek in North Carolina.

She had garbage bags wrapped around her neck and she is stuffed into a cushion

cover. Her body weighed down with rocks and cement. Mariah is last seen the safety of her bed

in her home two weeks earlier. A jailhouse confession would reveal horrors that would break

the hearts of an entire community. Another case of a mother allowing a monster into her innocent

child's life. This is Mariah's story. Mariah Kay Woods was born November 8th, 2014,

in Jacksonville, North Carolina, to parents Alex and Christy Woods.

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