OGDEN, Utah, Jan. 13, 2024 (Gephardt Daily) — An Ogden woman was booked into the Weber County jail early Friday after she allegedly threw her month-old baby into a snowbank, then repeatedly threw her own body on top of the infant’s, later telling a police officer she believed a demon had forced her to do it.
The woman was bleeding from cuts to her hands and lower legs, the arresting officer’s report says. She was arrested at 1:18 a.m.
The baby was transported to an area hospital and was found to have bruising to the left shoulder, a scratch on the leg and abrasions to the top of the head. The baby’s temperature was 95.72° Fahrenheit, which is below normal. Neonatal hypothermia (hypothermia in an infant up to 28 days old) is defined by the World Health Organization as a core temperature of 97.7°.
“Post-Miranda, (the woman) informed me that she believed she had been controlled by a demon and the demon had ‘made her do it,'” says an affidavit filed by an officer of the Ogden City Police Department.
The woman, in her 30s, “did not make sense while speaking with her and she was unable/unwilling to recall what had transpired,” the affidavit says, adding that she “appeared to be under the influence of a narcotic due to her behavior, speech and psychosis.”
The woman later tested positive for methamphetamine and suboxone, has a significant criminal history of controlled substance convictions over the past seven years, and was on probation, the statement says. While being searched in jail, she was found to have a Reese’s Pieces bag with about 19 pills of assorted controlled drugs, many of them prescription.
A recording from a doorbell camera was reviewed, and the woman could be seen “screaming, coming outside and breaking glass candles on the sidewalk in front her apartment, cut her hand and legs, return inside, then while exiting, seemingly trip, and throw her 1-month-old baby into the snow, barely missing the edge of the sidewalk,” her affidavit says.
She retrieved the baby and went back into the apartment building.
“Several moments later, (she) returns outside and seemingly falls, or intentionally falls, onto the sidewalk, on top of her 1-month-old baby. Once (she) lands on top of the child with her unbraced body weight, the child goes silent for a brief moment. (The woman) then picks up the child, who starts screaming again, and says ‘he’s alive!’ and ‘this is how I like it!'”
The woman then returned inside, and can be heard yelling at the screaming baby to “Stop!” The infant stopped briefly, then continued screaming, the OCPD officer’s statement says.
The woman “again returns into view and walks to a snowbank with her 1-month-old baby, places the baby into the snowbank, then proceeds to lay on top of the baby. (The woman) is screaming both at the baby and also at nothing as she drags herself across the baby.
“During this entire episode the 1-month-old baby was outside in a short-sleeve onesie that was soaked in water and blood when I collected it. The ambient temperature during the time of investigation was 24° Fahrenheit.”
The woman’s “repeated throwing the baby, landing on top of the baby repeatedly, then intentionally placing the baby into a snowbank and laying on top of it, posed substantial risk of death to the child,” the woman’s affidavit says.
The woman was booked into jail for investigation of:
- Aggravated child abuse, intentionally or knowingly, a second-degree felony
- Possession of controlled substances schedule I/II/analog, a third-degree felony
- Possession of a controlled substances within a correctional facility, a class B misdemeanor
The woman was ordered to be held without bail.
