NEWBORN DEAD After Mom 'Mistakenly' Bakes Baby in Oven

Crime Stories with Nancy Grace

iHeartPodcasts and CrimeOnline

True Crime, News

3.9 • 7.6K Ratings

🗓️ 13 February 2024

⏱️ 46 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Mariah Thomas and her 1-month-old baby, Za'Riah, live with Mariah's parents.

Za'Riah's grandparents leave for work just before 8 a.m. on Friday. After 1 p.m., Mariah Thomas calls her mother at work, hysterically screaming something is wrong with the baby. Her mother tells her to call 911. Mariah Thomas reports her baby daughter is not breathing.

When Mariah Thomas' father comes home, he smells smoke and runs to the baby's crib. He sees that Baby Za'Riah looks burned. He picks her up, realizing his granddaughter is dead. Mariah Thomas says she was putting Za'Riah down for a nap and thought she put her in the crib, but accidentally put her in the oven.

First responders arrive to treat what they think is an infant who isn't breathing, but instead, they find the baby with what appears to be thermal injuries on various parts of her body. She is wearing a bodysuit over a diaper, but the clothing appears to have melted onto the diaper and it appears very dirty, possibly burned on the backside. A baby blanket with significant burn marks is found in the living room.

Thomas has been charged for allegedly placing her child in an oven, resulting in the death of the 1-month-old child. Mariah Thomas faces the Class A Felony of Endangering the Welfare of a Child in the First-degree, death of a child.

Joining Nancy Grace Today:

Bernarda Villalona – NY Criminal Defense Attorney & Former Prosecutor, Villalona Law, PLLC.: @BernardaVillalona (FaceBook, Instagram, LinkedIn, TikTok, Threads); Twitter: @VillalonaLaw
Dr. Angela Arnold – Psychiatrist, Atlanta GA. (voted ‘My Buckhead’s Best Psychiatric Practice’ of 2023) Expert in the Treatment of Pregnant/Postpartum Women, and Former Assistant Professor of Psychiatry, Obstetrics and Gynecology: Emory University; Former Medical Director of The Psychiatric Ob-Gyn Clinic at Grady Memorial Hospital
Wayne S. Promisel - Former Detective/Sergeant (Special Victims Unit) and Owner of Compass Investigative Services
Dr. Karl E. Williams- Forensic Pathologist, Former Chief Medical Examiner for Allegheny County in Pittsburgh, PA
Paula Rohde - Child Abuse/Welfare Consultant and Expert and Former Child Protective Services Abuse Investigator; Paula Rohde Consulting LLC; Twitter: @PaulaRohde2
Amanda Yen - Journalist, Breaking News at The Daily Beast

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Transcript

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0:00.0	Hi, it's your favorite throwback podcast hosts Jessica Bennett and Susie Bannockarum here to announce a new season of our show in retrospect
0:09.2	which means a whole new batch of episodes diving into the pop culture moments we love and love to
0:14.2	pick apart from the dethroning of the first black Miss America to the legacy of a
0:19.2	lesbian joke from four Kaftan loving golden girls Listen to In retrospect on the I-Heart Radio app,
0:25.0	Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows. Crime stories with Nancy Grace. Have you ever accidentally burned yourself?
0:49.1	Because the other night, there they are.
0:51.1	I burned myself twice in one night cooking dinner and it really
0:56.1	hurt you know it takes a really long time for burn marks, scars to go away.
1:08.1	They are some of the most painful injuries that I have ever observed with crime victims.
1:20.6	I'm also thinking about my children, John David and Lucy, who are now 16, believe it or not, at age one month.
1:29.0	How helpless they were.
1:32.0	A beautiful little girl, Zaria, is dead. Her body, one month old, covered in burns.
1:47.6	I often see where moms or dads put their child in scalding hot water, believe it or not, unintentionally not
1:57.9	realizing how hot the water is. In fact there are mandates and health directives about how hot or cool you should have the water in your home for that very reason because children can't turn the water faucet for themselves.
2:17.0	So why is one month old baby girl, Zarya, dead, and covered in burns.
2:28.3	Not because of accidental scalding.
2:32.2	Because her mother put her in the oven to bake. Let it sink in. A one month old baby girl covered in horrific burns put alive in
2:52.1	alive and Put alive in the oven to bake.
2:57.0	I'm Nancy Grace.
3:00.0	This is Crime Stories.
3:01.0	Thank you for being with us here at Crime Stories and on Series XM 111.
3:06.2	I have an all-star panel to make sense of what we are learning.
	...

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