From left: Aleah Faith Ostruh (WTAE), Seth Williams (Pennsylvania Department of Corrections) and Micaiah Williams (Jobe Funeral Home). In the background is the Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, home where Micaiah was fatally beaten (WTAE).
A Pennsylvania mother who waited 12 hours before seeking medical care for her infant son is going to prison after the baby’s father inflicted four skull fractures and broke both of the child’s shoulders.
Aleah Faith Ostruh, 25, pleaded guilty to two counts of endangering the welfare of a child and one count of conspiracy to endanger the welfare of children in connection with the death of 4-month-old Micaiah Williams and injuries suffered by another child. A judge sentenced her Monday to five to 10 years in prison, according to court records.
Micaiah’s father, Seth Williams, 30, pleaded guilty to third-degree murder and was sentenced in June to 12½ to 28 years behind bars.
Pittsburgh police launched their investigation on Sept. 10, 2024, after the parents brought Micaiah to a hospital with “visible signs of abuse” and multiple “severe injuries,” police said at the time. Officers arrested Williams after finding him hiding in the basement of the couple’s apartment building. Micaiah died four days later.
According to a courtroom report by the Pittsburgh Tribune, Ostruh left Micaiah with Williams while she went to work on Sept. 9, 2024. Ahmed Williams, Micaiah’s grandfather and Seth Williams’ father, said she should not have left the infant in his care because she knew Williams was under the influence of drugs.
“Those warnings were ignored,” he reportedly wrote in a victim impact statement.
Just after 6 p.m., Seth Williams reportedly sent Ostruh a text message reading, “911 ASAP CALL ME!!!”
When Ostruh returned home, she found the residence in disarray. A door appeared to have been torn from its hinges and punctured with holes, while shattered glass was scattered throughout the house. Micaiah reportedly had facial bruises, would not open his eyes and refused to eat.
Investigators found that Seth Williams had searched the internet more than 20 times for the phrases “baby head trauma” and “baby head trauma treatment,” the Tribune reported.
Despite the infant’s condition, the parents did not seek medical attention until the following morning, when they walked to the hospital.
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“Instead of immediately getting him help, she waited,” Williams wrote. “I will always believe that every minute mattered. Micaiah depended on his parents to act, and they failed him.”
Micaiah had four skull fractures and two broken shoulders. Seth Williams claimed that the boy’s 4-year-old twin siblings had accidentally knocked him from a bassinet, but investigators determined that the injuries were far too serious to be explained by that account.
Roughly a year before Micaiah’s death, security-camera footage captured Ostruh lifting one of her twin sons—then a toddler—by the neck and pressing his face into a couch, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reported.
During a presentence interview focused on whether she should receive prison time, Ostruh reportedly declined to take responsibility for her actions.
“I’m not sure I deserve anything because I was at work,” she said, according to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.
The judge concluded that Ostruh had failed to protect her child.
“Ms. Ostruh ignored, despite knowledge specifically pointed out and visible to her, of Mr. Williams’ unstable and drug-influenced position,” the judge said, according to the Tribune. “This baby suffered unimaginable pain and suffering over the course of multiple hours.”
As authorities led Ostruh from the courtroom in handcuffs, she reportedly turned to her mother and pleaded, “Mom, please.”
“I’m praying,” her mother replied.
The post Mom who didn’t think she deserved prison after waiting 12 hours to get bruised baby help cries for her own mother when the judge sees it differently first appeared on Law & Crime.
