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Heartless parents could spend up to the next three decades behind bars after they left their toddler to die in a filthy crib littered with waffles while blasting loud music and denying responsibility.
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they → see → responsibility
Mitchell Chestnut Murray and Carrie Marie Murray, both 32, were charged in Utah's First District Court in December with aggravated murder, a first-degree felony, and aggravated child abuse, a second-degree felony, in connection with their daughter Ruby Marie Murray's death on March 19, 2025.
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Murray → charge → March
They pleaded guilty in July to the aggravated child abuse charge as well as a reduced charge of child abuse homicide, both second-degree felonies, KSL reports.
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KSL → plead → homicide
Both parents have since been sentenced to serve two consecutive terms of one to 15 years in prison for the 18-month-old's death and must now be placed on the state's child abuse registry.
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parents → sentence → registry
Authorities have claimed the couple engaged in a 'severe pattern of neglect' leading up to the child's death from malnutrition and dehydration.
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couple → claim → malnutrition
Charging documents allege the Murrays showed a 'depraved indifference to human life' by 'unreasonably subjecting [Ruby] to excessive heat, darkness, solitary confinement or sleep deprivation; and conduct that resulted in starvation, dehydration, failure to thrive or malnutrition, that jeopardized her life.'
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that → allege → life
Judge Spencer D Walsh agreed as he sentenced the couple on Friday.
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he → agree → Friday
'It's appalling,' he told Mitchell, according to the Herald Journal.
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he → tell → Journal
'It's shocking the type of neglect that you demonstrated here.
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you → demonstrate → that
'
Mitchell Chestnut Murray and Carrie Marie Murray, both 32, could spend up to three decades behind bars after they left their toddler to die in a filthy crib
Authorities have claimed the couple engaged in a 'severe pattern of neglect' leading up to the child's death from malnutrition and dehydration
Deputies with the Cache County Sheriff's Office said Carrie called 911 at around 10.30am on March 19, 2025 after she said she found her daughter dead in her crib.
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daughter → spend → crib
She then refused to perform lifesaving measures – despite being a registered nurse, according to charging documents obtained by Law & Crime.
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She → refuse → Law
'Carrie informed Dispatch that she was a nurse, and she believed the child to be beyond help,' reads the probable cause statement.
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statement → inform → help
When police then arrived at the couple's home in Nimbley, some 80 miles north of Salt Lake City, Carrie seemed indifferent to her daughter's death.
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Carrie → arrive → death
She told investigators her 'biggest guess' is that her daughter died from Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS), although she acknowledged that Ruby was 'older than typical for a SIDS death.
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Ruby → tell → death
'
'It was her time, I guess,' the mother-of-two then surmised, adding that she felt no responsibility for her little girl's death.
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she → guess → death
'I feel guilt really strongly - I feel no guilt over this,' she told investigators.
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she → feel → investigators
But the deputies who had responded to the home found the child wearing long-sleeve, footed pajamas and a sleep sack with several blankets despite a nearby space heater that left the temperature inside the room at 77 degrees Fahrenheit, ABC 4 reports.
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ABC → respond → degrees
Carrie found her 18-month-old daughter dead inside her crib on the morning of March 19, 2025
Inside the crib, there were also several sippy cups and a 'large amount of pieces of Eggo-style waffle' with more trash, wrappers and waffle pieces underneath the mattress.
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Carrie → find → mattress
Yet the child weighed only about 17 pounds at the time of her death, putting her under the fifth percentile for children her age.
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child → weigh → children
As authorities continued to investigate, they learned that during the last four days of Ruby's life, she was only out of her crib for a little over six hours and 'the total time another human being was identified as being present with the child was 49 minutes and 15 seconds,' according to the sheriff's office.
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being → continue → office
During the same time period, the girl's diaper was only changed six times.
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diaper → change → period
That was apparently not uncommon for the couple, as Mitchell allegedly told police he is on his computer a lot – both working and playing games.
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he → tell → games
'Mitchell explained what he termed "crib days,"' the charging documents said.
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documents → explain → what
'He explained that crib days were days where [Ruby] remained in her crib all day while he worked.
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he → explain → crib
He claimed this would occur one to two days per week,' but would check on Ruby two to three times during the day.
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this → claim → day
But investigators said Ruby was never taken out of her crib on March 18, even though Carrie informed officers her husband checked on their daughter 16 hours before she was found dead.
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she → say → daughter
During the morning hours of March 19, Ruby was observed on baby monitors and surveillance cameras 'moving and making noises throughout the night, including crying, whimpering and gasping,' according to the charging documents.
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Ruby → observe → documents
Court documents further allege the couple would play music all night from Green Day, Fall Out Boy or Panic! At the Disco while the child slept or when she started crying – which authorities believe inhibited the child's sleep.
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authorities → allege → sleep
Ruby was ultimately determined to have died from 'dehydration and undernutrition,' the Medical Examiner's Office ruled.
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Office → determine → dehydration
Ruby Murray was ultimately determined to have died from 'dehydration and undernutrition'
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Murray → determine → dehydration
Ahead of the sentencing, family members and friends vouched for both Carrie and Mitchell, calling them caring parents and insisting that Ruby's death was unintentional.
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death → vouch → them
'We respectfully ask that you consider the whole of who Michael and Carrie are - not only the tragedy that occurred, but also the loving parents, hard workers and devoted family members we know them to be,' Mitchell's parents wrote in a letter to the judge.
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parents → ask → judge
'We ask for compassion and mercy as they face the consequences of this heartbreaking accident and try to rebuild their family.'
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they → ask → family
Mitchell's grandmother also claimed in a separate letter, 'I don't think you could find a man of finer character' than her grandson, while Mitchell's brother asked the court to consider the whole family – noting they still have a six-year-old child at home.
'If there is an opportunity for mercy, rehabilitation, supervision or alternatives that would allow them to remain in their child's life while still fulfilling the court's requirements, I respectfully ask that those options be considered,' he pleaded.
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he → claim → requirements
The parents also had an opportunity to plead for leniency at their sentencing hearings on Friday, with Mitchell apologizing for his actions.
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Mitchell → have → actions
'I regret what happened,' he said.
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he → regret → ?
'I should have done better.
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I → do → ?
Carrie also read a note filed with the court on September 4 in which she said that knowing she is responsible for her daughter's death is 'horrific.
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she → read → death
I will never stop being sorry.
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I → stop → ?
I pray for forgiveness frequently,' she wrote.
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she → pray → forgiveness
…and 13 more, not listed.
The Aporia
