A Missouri mother who told investigators she mistakenly placed her 1-month-old daughter in an oven instead of a crib will spend 13 years in prison under a plea agreement that dismissed a first-degree murder charge.
Mariah Thomas, 28, pleaded guilty Tuesday to first-degree endangering the welfare of a child resulting in death, according to Jackson County court records. She was sentenced to 13 years in the Missouri Department of Corrections.
The sentence was handed down more than two years after Kansas City police found Thomas’ infant daughter dead from severe burns inside a home in the city.
Mariah Thomas was sentenced to 13 years in prison after pleading guilty to endangering the welfare of a child resulting in death. Prosecutors dismissed a first-degree murder charge as part of the plea agreement. (Jackson County Detention Center)
Thomas had also faced a first-degree murder charge, but prosecutors dropped it as part of the agreement, court records show. She was denied probation and will receive credit for time already spent in custody.
The tragedy unfolded on Feb. 9, 2024, when officers were called to the home at about 1:30 p.m. following a report that a baby was not breathing, according to charging documents.
Officers found the 1-month-old girl suffering from apparent burns over her body. Kansas City Fire Department personnel pronounced the infant dead at the scene.
Investigators were told Thomas had intended to put her daughter down for a nap but “accidentally placed her in the oven instead of the crib,” the court documents state.
The sentence came more than two years after Kansas City police found Thomas’ infant daughter dead with severe burns inside a city home. (Kansas City Missouri Police Department, File)
A family member later told detectives that Thomas said, “I thought I put [her] in her crib and I accidentally put her in the oven.”
The baby was wearing a bodysuit over a diaper. Investigators said the clothing appeared to have melted onto the diaper, while a baby blanket recovered from the living room showed significant burn marks, according to the probable cause statement.
FOX 4 Kansas City identified the infant as Za’riah Thomas.
Thomas initially refused to speak with detectives after receiving her rights advisement. She later agreed to provide a blood sample and permit investigators to access information from her cellphone, the documents state.
A baby monitor camera is mounted above a crib in a nursery in a California home. (Tech Trends/Gado/Getty Images)
Then-Jackson County Prosecutor Jean Peters Baker described the child’s death as a “gruesome” tragedy when the original charge was announced in February 2024.
“We acknowledge the gruesome nature of this tragedy, and our hearts are weighted by the loss of this precious life,” Baker said at the time. “We trust the criminal justice system to respond appropriately to these awful circumstances.”
The initial complaint accused Thomas only of first-degree endangering the welfare of a child resulting in death.
Prosecutors later added the first-degree murder charge, which was ultimately dismissed under the plea agreement reached Tuesday, court records show.
Judge Sarah A. Castle determined that Thomas entered her guilty plea freely and voluntarily and understood both the charge and its consequences. The judgment also states that she did not raise a mental disease or defect defense.
Thomas was returned to Jackson County sheriff’s custody pending transfer to state prison. The judge ordered her to pay $68 to Missouri’s Crime Victims’ Compensation Fund and waived all other court costs.
News Outlet reached out to the Jackson County prosecutor’s office for comment.
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