Christina Thomason
MARION CO.— A Salem woman who confessed to listening on a baby monitor while her three-month old daughter smothered made her first appearance on court this morning (Thursday, March 26).
Christina Thomason, 23, is charged with two counts of First Degree Murder in the Tuesday, March 24, death of her baby.
During her appearance, Thomason, of North Trenary Street, informed authorities that she intended to hire her own attorney.
According to report, when she was brought in for a second time to be questioned by authorities, Thomason confessed to the particulars that lead to her daughter’s death.
“She admitted that her daughter (Aribella Thomason) was crying and she couldn’t get her to stop so she put her in a bassinet, covered her up, including her face, mouth and nose, with several blankets and proceeded to leave her that way for an hour,” said Marion County State’s Attorney Matt Wilzbach. “When she came back the baby was dead and (Thomason) called 911.”
More disturbing is what Thomason was doing while the baby suffocated.
Authorities say that during that hour Thomason spent the first 10-15 minutes sitting on the toilet in the bathroom listening over a baby monitor until she couldn’t hear the crying any longer.
Then she is said to have taken a 35-minute shower and woke her two-year-old daughter.
“She basically listened to her baby die,” Wilzbach said.
During the questioning Thomason told authorities that she had watched CSI shows, during which it took an hour for a baby to suffocate.
Wilzbach said his office has also gathered several Facebook comments Thomason made about her baby’s death that could be used during her prosecution.
The Facebook comments are described as not matching those Thomason had originally told investigators.
Thomason even went as far as to set up a gofundme.com account in an attempt to raise money for her murdered daughter’s funeral expenses.
A guardianship hearing has been scheduled for the remaining two-year-old but Thomason was warned that if she took the stand during that hearing anything she said could be used against her during her upcoming trial on the murder charges.
Until that hearing the two-year-old remains in protective custody of the Department of Children and Family Services.