Adoptive mother charged in girl’s death

FLINT, Mich. (AP) — A 9-year-old quadriplegic girl whose body was found in a storage unit suffered from “severe, ongoing malnutrition and neglect” before her death, a prosecutor said Friday after charging her adoptive mother with murder.

Genesee County Prosecutor David Leyton charged 39-year-old Lorrie Thomas of Flint with six crimes, including second-degree murder, child abuse, tampering with evidence, removing a dead body and welfare fraud.

Shylea Myza Thomas weighed 33 pounds at her death — about half her weight of 61 pounds in August 2007, Leyton said at a news conference. The girl had untreated bed sores and bones sticking through skin, he said.

“Nobody should die like this. ... The child suffered — there’s no question about it. It’s heart-wrenching to every one of us,” he said.

Investigators believe Shylea died about six weeks ago, around the time the storage unit was rented, Leyton said. He said she was supposed to be fed special, prescription food through a tube attached to her stomach. Thomas is accused of cashing a check April 13 that included a monthly stipend for the girl of $2,884.

Thomas has been in custody since Wednesday, when investigators found the girl’s body in the storage unit near Flint, which is 65 miles northwest of Detroit. The body was in a black trash bag and stuffed into a plastic bin with mothballs to cover up the smell.

Thomas, dressed in orange jail clothes, cried Friday at her arraignment in District Court in Flint. Judge Tracy Collier-Nix ordered her held without bond and set her next court appearance for Tuesday. She was to get a court-appointed lawyer.

If convicted of the murder charge, Thomas could face life in prison.

Some friends and family in the courtroom wore shirts bearing photos of the girl. Some relatives spelled her name “Shylae,” though authorities and some records list it as “Shylea.”

A cousin of Thomas’, Josette Thomas, said she’s “not a bad person, at all. Something happened. She panicked and made a mistake.”