By Raul Castillo
21 Jul 2024, 17:59 PM EDT
Melissa R. Thorp, an Ohio mother who crushed her four-month-old son’s skull and let the body decompose in her home for several days before calling police, has been sentenced to life in prison with the possibility of parole after 20 years after pleading guilty to aggravated murder.
The incident dates back to September 2022 and was resolved this Thursday in the Franklin County Court of Common Pleas, under the supervision of Judge Julie Lynch, according to Law&Crime.
On Sept. 12, Thorp, 40, called 911 to report that her son was not breathing. When emergency responders arrived, they found the baby deceased and in an advanced state of decomposition. At 8:57 a.m., Aaron was pronounced dead.
The Franklin County Coroner’s Office and Columbus Police homicide detectives launched an investigation after being unable to immediately determine the cause of death.
The baby’s body was taken to Nationwide Children’s Hospital for additional X-rays before being sent to the coroner’s office. An autopsy revealed Aaron died due to blunt force trauma to the head, a result of being crushed between two objects, according to a report summarizing the findings by The Columbus Dispatch.
Under medical care
During the hearing, it was revealed that Thorp had recently been released from a recovery program and was under the care of several doctors, including psychiatrists, according to a report by Columbus-based ABC affiliate WSYX.
Her public defender claimed Thorp did not know she was pregnant until the time of delivery, mistakenly believing she had a kidney stone. This claim was part of a defense alleging mental health issues, though Thorp ultimately withdrew her plea of not guilty by reason of insanity earlier this week.
The case, which began in Franklin County Municipal Court, was dismissed and moved to Common Pleas Court, where several continuances were issued during the proceedings.
Ohio, one of the states that does not have a specific legal definition for degrees of homicide, classifies aggravated homicide as the most severe form of this crime.
With information from Law&Crime.
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