CACHE COUNTY, Utah — A Cache County couple has been sentenced in the death of their 18-month-old daughter in which investigators found a severe pattern of neglect.
Mitchell and Carrie Murray of Nibler pleaded guilty earlier this summer to charges of child abuse homicide and aggravated child abuse following their arrest last December. The arrests came months after their daughter was found dead inside her crib in March.
Both parents were sentenced to prison terms of not less than one year and no more than 15 years for each charge, which have been ordered to run consecutively.
Carrie Murray called first responders to the family home on March 19 after finding the couple's daughter dead in her crib. Carrie claimed she and her husband had last seen the girl approximately 16 hours earlier, and that Mitchell had last checked on their daughter.
The girl was wearing long-sleeved, footed pajamas and a sleep sack when she was found, and her crib was littered with old pieces of food and several child cups. Underneath the mattress were trash, wrappers, and large pieces of waffles.
When asked about her daughter's food and water intake, Carrie said she was given a sippy cup in the morning and evening, and ate waffles for all her meals. She also claimed that the child only ate inside the crib because the family wasn't "table people."
Using a baby monitor, detectives learned that the girl was outside her crib for just over six hours during the previous four days, and only spent time with another human being for 49 minutes
Mitchell told police that he worked at home, and while he was working, his daughter would have "crib days," where the girl would spend the entire day inside and be checked by her father only two or three times a day.
