Mother in US burns baby to death inside oven after claiming she mistook it for a crib

A mother in the US state of Missouri burned her one-month-old baby to death in an oven — and then claimed to police that she mistook the kitchen appliance for a crib, officials said.

Cops described the scene in the Kansas City home as “gruesome,” after the tot belonging to mom Mariah Thomas was found badly burnt and not breathing Friday, according to The Guardian.

Thomas told authorities she “was putting her child down for a nap, and accidentally placed the child in the oven instead of the crib,” according to Fox 4.

Jackson County Prosecutor Jean Peters Baker said “our hearts are weighted by the loss of this precious life.”

“We trust the criminal justice system to respond appropriately to these awful circumstances,” he said, according to the local outlet.

Thomas was charged with endangering the welfare of a child and for death of a child.

Last month, a toddler was found dead inside the home of a disgraced police lieutenant and foster father who is in jail for child rape.

The mother called 911 after the child suffered from a medical emergency inside the Boston-area home.

She was pronounced dead at the hospital.

The child was found in the home of former Winthrop Police Lieutenant James Feeley, who was arrested in December.

This article originally appeared in the New York Post and was reproduced with permission