A Missouri mother reportedly burned her one-month-old son to death by putting him into a hot oven – later claiming she mistook the latter for a crib.
According to The Guardian, officers found the infant’s body badly burned and unable to breathe in the home of his mother Mariah Thomas – describing the scene as “gruesome”.
Fox 4 reports that the woman reportedly told authorities that she “was putting her child down for a nap, and accidentally placed the child in the oven instead of the crib.”
“Our hearts are weighted by the loss of this precious life”, said Jackson County Prosecutor Jean Peters Baker. “We trust the criminal justice system to respond appropriately to these awful circumstances,” he added.
The mother was charged with endangering the welfare of a child and for death of a child. She might face capital punishment if the crime is found to be intentional and premeditated in nature.
