The Misery Machine - The Case of Mariah & Za'Riah Thomas

Starting point is 00:00:00 Mariah Thomas resided in Kansas City, Missouri. She lived with her parents, Angela and Kenneth Thomas, in the Mannheim Park neighborhood. Soon, they were joined by a baby girl. Their community was regarded as safe, quiet, and a good environment for families with young children. Mariah gave birth to Zariah May Thomas on December 14, 2023. She was precious, tiny, and surrounded by love. She was described as bubbly and was smiling. all the time. Her mother and grandparents often sang to her as they held her in their arms.

Starting point is 00:00:36 She was first going to be named Zalani, but Mariah changed it sometime between mid-September in early October of 2023. A person claiming to be Mariah's friend said that Mariah had issues with mental health since she was very little, though. It's not reported exactly what these issues were. She was told by her doctors to stop taking her meds while pregnant due to risks to her baby's health And to our knowledge, she never took her medication ever again. Mariah hadn't been sleeping well since giving birth. It's understandable as parents of newborns are beholden to the newborn's schedule. But the combination of sleep deprivation and lack of meds was troubling for her.

Starting point is 00:01:15 The friend was concerned for Mariah's well-being, but didn't push the issue any further. In another report, Mariah was said to have the thought process akin to that of a child. Thus far, no one has said that Mariah had any sort of developmental delay, so we can only assume that they meant general immaturity. Mariah spent a lot of her time on Facebook. She made posts about motherhood, pregnancy, friends, family, relationships, and being single. Mariah's Facebook page was erratic and unpredictable, putting her immaturity on full display. It seemed like every relationship she had was turbulent to some degree, both romantic and platonic.

Starting point is 00:01:52 She often posted about cutting those she perceived to have wronged her out of her life completely in very cathartic manners. News outlets have yet to share any information on Zariah's father, and he hasn't spoken to the press. From what we can piece together from Mariah's Facebook page, she was not on good terms with him whatsoever. They may have still been together during the early stages of her pregnancy, but it didn't last long.

Starting point is 00:02:15 Additionally, she may have been harassed by her ex's new partner. Some earlier posts on her Facebook page suggests she had another child, though we don't know much about them. She hasn't referenced this child by name or posted any photo. so she was likely not this child's primary caregiver. Her posts indicated that this child and Zariah were full-blooded siblings, however. On March 13, 2023, Mariah posted about missing her period. On April 11th, she announced that she was pregnant.

Starting point is 00:02:45 She tracked her pregnancy progress on her Facebook profile. She jumped between excitement for her being a mother and expressing frustration about being pregnant. But the vague posts about people in her life were just as frequent. As Zariah's due date drew closer, Mariah posted more and more about leaving the fake people in her life behind once her daughter was born. It was more of the same after her labor, but in addition, Mariah seemed to think that the only reason people reached out to her was because they wanted to see her daughter. There's no gentle way of saying this. Mariah clearly felt lonely, used, and like an afterthought. Maybe some part of her believed having and raising a child,

Starting point is 00:03:27 would alleviate those negative feelings. If her Facebook is a small glimpse into her life, being a mother and caregiver to a newborn gave her some sense of purpose, but motherhood alone wasn't enough to completely alleviate Mariah's sense of loneliness. She often posted that she felt people only wanted to associate with her to get to her daughter.

Starting point is 00:03:50 It seems she wanted to be a good mother, but she couldn't chase away the ever-present feelings of loneliness. Two posts made a day apart depicted this dichotomy. The first read, Yeah, motherfuckers claim they my friend, but don't never check up on me or Zariah. From now on, we fuck with whoever fuck with us or love us. I'm so tired of motherfuckers claiming my daughter

Starting point is 00:04:14 and y'all pretend it, like, just stop. The second read, My goal this year for 2024 is to be the best mother I can be to my beautiful daughter and to stay out of drama and to get a place for me and my daughter and for only me and my daughter. After being off her medication for nine months,

Starting point is 00:04:33 then not going back on it after giving birth, Mariah was far from well. She clearly needed some kind of help, some sense of community, but there was no indication that she was a danger to her daughter. No one could have predicted what Mariah would do to the daughter she said she loved. But unfortunately, Zariah would,

Starting point is 00:04:54 die one month after she was born. Probable cause statement chronicled the events of that day. Some important parts were redacted including names. Light of this will have to connect the dots with other publicly available information to piece together what happened. In February 9th, 2024, Kenneth and Angela were getting ready to leave for the day. Angela worked at a daycare and Kenneth was looking for employment in downtown Kansas City. Mariah and Zariah were said to have been in good spirits. Mariah had spoken to a friend over the phone the night before and seemed normal. By the time Kenneth and Angela left, Mariah and Zariah had fallen back asleep. Between 12.50 and 1 o'clock in the afternoon, Mariah called her mother.

Starting point is 00:05:38 She was hysterical and told Angela she had put Zerai in the oven instead of her crib. Angela told Mariah she needed to dial 911, but Mariah continued to yell hysterically. Angela then called her husband, telling him there was something wrong with their granddaughter. I don't know how forthcoming she was with the details in the moment, but Angela caught the earliest bus home that she could. Kenneth beat her there, and when he entered the house, he was met with the strong odor of smoke. Zariah was in her crib completely unresponsive. Kenneth held his granddaughter in his arms and asked Mariah what happened. Mariah responded, I thought I put Zariah in her crib, and I accidentally put Zariah.

Starting point is 00:06:19 her in the oven. It was not reported if the oven was turned on before or after Zariah was inside, but Kenneth promptly called emergency services. The Kansas City Police and Firefighters were dispatched to the home and arrived at 1.24 p.m. Zariah was moved to her car seat, which was placed in the living room. It was thought that Mariah and Kenneth may have been gearing up to rush her to the emergency room. Kenneth passed Zariah to the firefighters, hoping his granddaughter could be saved. Instead, the fire department pronounced the infant dead at the scene. She was covered in burns. The heat made her onesie melt into her diaper. A baby blanket with burn marks was also found in the living room. Naturally, the screaming, the ambulance, and the police cars drew the neighbor's

Starting point is 00:07:09 attention. They were reassured that they weren't in any danger, but they were kept in the dark until a few hours later. When the initial news broke of an unnamed child's death in their community, they were shaken. They never expected to bear witness to something as tragic as the death of a child.

Starting point is 00:07:28 Two residents of the neighborhood gave short statements to the press one approach. One said, Within a matter of minutes, I heard sirens. The next thing I know, there's a baby carry being transported between the Met Act in the house.

Starting point is 00:07:42 And I'm pretty shocked by it and appalled that there's a dead. in our neighborhood. It's sad, especially when it's a child. No child should be leaving here. Initially, police began an investigation for a suspicious death rather than a homicide. Mariah was of course brought in for questioning by the Kansas City Police. There, she chose to invoke her Fifth Amendment right to remain silent, but she agreed to let investigators go through her phone and take a blood sample. The public was directed toward a tip hotline just in case anyone could provide more information to law enforcement. After the crime scene was processed, investigators

Starting point is 00:08:17 summarized their findings. The victim was located in the living room lying in a car seat just inside of the front door. The victim had sustained apparent thermal injuries on various parts of her body. She was clothed in a body suit over a diaper. Clothing appeared to have melted onto the diaper, and it was very dirty, possibly burned on the backside. Maybe blanket with significant burn marks was located in the living room and was collected. A pack-and-play containing baby blankets was found in the living room next to a couch as well. Mariah was arrested the next day for Zariah's death and had a bond hearing 10 days later. Her bond was set at $200,000. Prosecuting attorney Gene Peters Baker said in a statement to the press,

Starting point is 00:09:01 we appreciate all first responders who work the scene and the prosecutors who went to the scene in order to issue these charges. 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. Prosecutor Baker claimed Mariah knowingly acted in a manner that created a substantial risk to Zariah's life. Doubting what Mariah did was purely accidental. Zariah's funeral was held on March 14, 2024. The service was held at Beacon Light Seventh-day Adventist Church, officiated by Parenthood.

Starting point is 00:09:40 Pastor Greg Fontis. The poem A Fallen Lim by Author Unknown was written into the service program and read aloud following two minutes of silence. It read, A limb has fallen from the family tree. I hear a voice that whispers, grieve not for me.

Starting point is 00:09:58 Remember the best times, the laughter of the songs. The good I lived while I was strong. Continue my heritage, I'm counting on you. Keep on smiling. The sun will shine through. My mind is at ease, my soul is at rest, remembering all how I was truly blessed. Continue traditions, no matter how small. Go on with your lives, don't stare at the wall.

Starting point is 00:10:24 I miss you all dearly, so keep up your chin. Until that fine day, we're together again. Her obituary was recorded on the website for Golden Gate Funeral and Cremation Services. A SoundCloud link is embedded into the webpage. After the page loads, along with Zariah's precious little face, you are greeted with a soft, gentle piano cover of, You Are My Sunshine. Mariah never made Bond, so she could not go to Zariah's funeral.

Starting point is 00:10:53 It's not been reported whether she wanted to or not, though. It may have been the best that she didn't go. A mother accused of cooking her newborn alive and then going to that newborn's funeral is a bad look at best and a recipe for disaster at worse. In December of 2024, a grand jury added a charge of first-degree involuntary manslaughter in addition to the charges of first-degree child endangerment and death of a child. Mariah also had a second bond hearing in February. Mariah's bond attorney Jennifer L. Robinson asked for her client's $200,000 bond to be lowered.

Starting point is 00:11:28 She argued that Mariah didn't have a criminal history, so there was no reason for the bond to be so high. Prosecutors argued that they believed Mariah to be a flight risk and that they felt she was in. dangerous individual. Ultimately, Judge R. Travis Willingham lowered the bond to $100,000 after her February bond hearing. Her bond conditions included house arrest, close supervision via an ankle monitor, and a mental health evaluation. From professional publications to social media posts, comment sections about this case were quite divided. She even caught the attention of Nancy Grace, who dedicated an episode of her podcast crime stories of Nancy Grace to discussing Mariah and Zariah Thomas. understandably, she had a very strong emotional reaction when learning that baby Zariah was left to bake in a hot oven, she said.

Starting point is 00:12:15 I read the headline and I stopped right there because I don't want to think about a baby at one month opening the oven, putting your baby on the rack, closing the oven, and cranking it up to 400. And I don't want to think about that baby in the oven as it gets hotter and hotter and the baby is screaming, screaming as her clothes melt until she is burned dead. How long did it take? Five minutes, ten minutes, twenty minutes an hour, in an oven? I can't even stand a small space. The baby in the oven screaming, crying, thrashing, milting. She interviewed experts in criminal journalism, crime scene investigation, forensics, child mistreatment, and psychiatry.

Starting point is 00:12:56 Paula Rode, former CPS investigator, said that Mariah's Facebook post expressing how she was tired of being pregnant should have alerted authorities that she was a risk to her child. Another expert named Dr. Carl E. Williams, I believe Mariah was deeply disturbed and really didn't know what she did when she did it. He had met many pregnant women who were very tired of being pregnant, and from a medical perspective saw it as exhaustion from an exhausting process and not an ultimate sign of potential child maltreatment. The general public sees Mariah Thomas as either evil incarnate

Starting point is 00:13:29 or an individual with an untreated mental illness. Those on the side of the former don't believe Mariah for a second, when she said it was an accident. We are all ultimately on the same path. When we witness something horrifying, either ourselves or through third-party reports, we try to rationalize it. We try to answer the questions of how or why.

Starting point is 00:13:51 These heavy topics don't usually have simple, easy answers. Now, some people have speculated postpartum psychosis. It is a condition that can cause paranoia, hallucinations, and delusions in mothers following the birth of their newborns. These behaviors can have serious consequences, and may cause a mother to become a danger to herself or her child in extreme cases.

Starting point is 00:14:16 We've covered many postpartum psychosis cases in the past, the two most notable being Texas mother Audie Sanchez, who decapitated her infant son Scotty, in Massachusetts mother and nurse Lindsay Clancy, who killed her three children before jumping out of her bedroom window. If you've not seen our coverage of these cases, we'll be sure to link them for you in the pin comment and the description. If this is the true cause of Zariah's death, it complicates everything.

Starting point is 00:14:46 It's important to remember that while explanations do not equal excuses, these underlying causes are still important to know so we can understand what happened, especially if the goal is to prevent something like this from ever happening to a child again. Only one U.S. state acknowledges postpartum psychosis as something to take into account during a defendant's sentencing. It was implemented in Illinois in 2018, though it isn't the first of its kind. Various countries have some form of sentence mitigation if the accused is determined to be afflicted with a postpartum mental disorder. But this legislation is still fairly new and developing in the United States. However, this might all be irrelevant.

Starting point is 00:15:30 As of March 19th, 2024, legal documents filed by Mariah's attorney indicate that she does not intend to rely on the defense of mental disease or defect at this time. There are yet to be documents filed and published that walk this back. Maria faces a Class A felony for the death of a child, as well as endangering the welfare of a child and a Class C felony for involuntary manslaughter. She'll be represented by Assistant Public Defender Jennifer L. Robinson. will be a jury trial overseen by 16th Circuit Court Judge, Joel P. Fainstock. A similar case of a mother putting her children in an oven came to a close in November of 2024. Mora Williams, a mother living in Atlanta, Georgia, called emergency services claiming she came home and found her one and two-year-old boys unresponsive on the floor.

Starting point is 00:16:20 They were burned, and she claimed that one of the boys had the entire stove on top of him. If you've been following our channel, we covered Lomora's case among others a few years back, we'll also link that for you down below. After a post-mortem examination, it became clear to investigators that Lamora's version of events weren't adding up. Mara Williams was found guilty of murdering her boys by cooking them alive in an oven and then proceeding to lie about it. She was given a life sentence plus 35 years as a result. Mariah is in a similar situation as Lamora Williams, albeit with fewer overall charges. Lomora was reported to have suffered from mental illness and was pushed over the

Starting point is 00:16:59 edge when her boyfriend broke up with her. She pled not guilty and did not pursue an insanity plea. The difference between the two women is the fact that Lamora attempted to sway investigators away from her while Mariah chose to remain silent when questioned. Prosecuting attorneys cannot discuss a defendant's choice to invoke their Fifth Amendment rights, so Mariah's choice to do so can't even be brought up by the state. If they do, it could be ruled a mistrial. Despite this, it seems the state of Missouri is confident in their case against Mariah Thomas and is prepared to present their case in court. While Mariah's trial was initially set to start in January of 2025, records show it's

Starting point is 00:17:38 been pushed to October 6th. A motion for continuance of form requesting a trial be delayed was filed in December of 2024, and both parties signed off an agreement. The motion said that public defender Robinson needed more time to prepare, but the specific details were redacted. The state of Missouri has published a list of witnesses they plan to call, including detectives, medical professionals, civilians, and some individuals whose identities have been redacted. They also have video, audio, and photo evidence from the Kansas City Police Department, which they intend to present during the trial. The most recent legal activity was a notice of disclosure filed by Prosecutor Erickson on January 8, 2025.

Starting point is 00:18:23 The disclosure states that the prosecution gained action. access to two new pages of documents, and that they have provided them to the defense. Since then, no information about Mariah's trial has been made available to the public. Today, Zariah Thomas would be one year old. She would have celebrated her first Christmas and birthday. She would be crawling and could possibly be walking and talking by this point. She might have a favorite color, toy, animal, favorite food, a favorite TV show, but we'll never know that now. Whether purposeful, accidental or somewhere in between, Zariah's future was stolen from her. She'll never make lifelong friends,

Starting point is 00:19:03 have her first day of school, graduate from college, pursue her dream job, meet her soulmate, or among many other things that we all take for granted. As of the date of this recording in February of 2025, Mariah has pled not guilty and is considered innocent until proven guilty in a court of law. If the court rules against her, she could face a minimum of 10 years in prison and a maximum of a life sentence. Between now and then, she may change her plea, accept a plea bargain, or continue on the path she's currently on. Her fate is in the hands of the courts.

The Misery Machine - The Case of Mariah & Za'Riah Thomas

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