In a case that has shocked Cache County, a local couple is facing charges of aggravated murder and child abuse after their infant daughter died from severe neglect. Mitchell and Carrie Murray were arrested following a nearly nine-month investigation into the death of 18-month-old Ruby Murray, as Cache Valley Daily reports.
According to law enforcement, on March 19th, Carrie Murray, a registered nurse, notified emergency services that her child was "beyond help". Found in her room, the temperature raised by a space heater, the toddler was lying in a crib described as dirty, “very dirty,” containing old food fragments and several sippy cups. The sheriff's office, uncovering details of a harrowing pattern of neglect, learned that Ruby weighed only slightly more than 17 pounds at her time of death, a consequence of dehydration and malnutrition, as KSL included in their affidavit.
Details obtained from surveillance cameras and baby monitors revealed that Ruby was confined to her crib most of the time, venturing outside of it for only a little over six hours in the last four days of her life. During that period, another human's presence was scarcely recorded, amounting to a mere 49 minutes and 15 seconds, and she received only six diaper changes, as per the detectives' findings reported by KUTV.
During interviews, Mitchell Murray reportedly conveyed remorse and acknowledged his daughter's inability to care for herself, even stating that "you're supposed to spend as much time on her as you do on yourself." Contrarily, arrested after being taken into custody, Carrie Murray expressed a chilling absence of guilt, saying, "it was her time," according to what she told investigators, Cache Valley Daily reported.
