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A Kansas City mother is facing charges after she claimed to have "accidentally" put her newborn in the oven instead of her crib, PEOPLE reports.
Mariah Thomas, 26, was initially charged with endangering the welfare of a child in the first degree and death of a child in connection to the February 9 incident involving her one-month-old child. Last week, a Jackson County grand jury added an involuntary manslaughter charge.
The charges come after Thomas told authorities she was putting her newborn down for a nap when she accidentally placed the baby in a smoldering oven rather than her crib.
Kansas City police responded to the scene on February 9 after receiving a report of a "non-breathing infant." Officers found the infant with burns, and the child's clothes were melted.
“We appreciate all first responders who worked this scene and the prosecutors who went to the scene in order to issue these charges," Jackson County Prosecutor Jean Peters Baker said in a statement at the time.
“We acknowledge the gruesome nature of this tragedy and our hearts are weighted by the loss of this precious life. We trust the criminal justice system to respond appropriately to these awful circumstances,” Baker continued.
Thomas allegedly told an unidentified adult who lived in the home: “I thought I put (redacted) in her crib and I accidentally put her in the oven." The adult reportedly came home from work after receiving a "hysterical" phone call from Thomas about the incident.
Thomas pleaded not guilty to the charges. Her trial is set to begin on January 13.
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