Who are Brandon Thoma and Taylor Blaha? What drove them to murder their own child?

In Iowa, a 31-year-old man and a 24-year-old woman are in jail after their baby was allegedly drowned in a bathtub only seconds after birth.

Authorities reported that on Wednesday, they detained Taylor K. Blaha and Brandon D. Thoma and charged them with one count of first-degree murder, each concerning the death of child Kayleen Lee Blaha.

Blaha visited Unity Point Trinity Regional Medical Center on November 22 to meet with an Iowa Department of Human Services representative, according to a sworn declaration of probable cause acquired by Law&Crime (IDHS). Blaha said she “gave birth to a kid in her home and that it had been buried at an unidentified site.”

Who are Brandon Thoma and Taylor Blaha?

After their baby was born, a mother and father in Iowa are accused of drowning her in a bathtub. The baby was submerged in water by Brandon Thoma, 31, and Taylor Blaha, 24, after the mother used meth to help relieve the agony of the home birth to stop it from crying. A few hours after drowning the infant, Thoma dumped it at a nearby landfill.

What drove them to murder their own child?

Officers from the Webster County Sheriff’s Office confiscated their phones after they were informed of the occurrence and discovered that both had been looking for ways to induce a miscarriage.

The couple was charged with first-degree murder following their arrest on Wednesday. Thoma is also accused of inflicting physical harm on a body. Bail was set at $1,000,000 and $1,000,000, respectively.

An affidavit states that on November 22, detectives contacted an Iowa Department of Human Services member, informing them that Blaha had been taken to the hospital after giving birth at home, where she later disposed of the child.

Police Investigation

She was worried about the reports, so she called the Webster County Sheriff’s Office, and a detective was sent to the hospital. Blaha then told the detective that she gave birth to a girl on November 16 in her Fort Dodge home toilet.

She also mentioned that the father’s name was Thoma and that the couple already had a two-year-old child. Thoma remained in the bedroom as she gave birth, but once the baby was delivered, he went into the bathroom and severed the umbilical cord before helping her transfer the child from the toilet to the bathtub.

According to the affidavit, the infant was alive, crying, and moving its arms when she delivered it. She asked Thoma if he might give her some amphetamine to help her feel better. Blaha told the investigator that her plan was for her sister to adopt the child and that she had no desire to keep the child.

How did the incident happen?

In a statement released on December 7, Thoma said he was frightened that if authorities found the baby, they would discover meth in its system and take away his second kid, a two-year-old boy. The parents drowned the infant because they believed her cries would make a neighbour suspicious.

Thoma showed Blaha how to do this, the document claims, by drowning the infant in a bathtub that was only half filled. The baby’s body was taken from the bathtub by Thoma, who then bagged it up and put it in a rucksack that he used to carry her out of the flat.

Thoma went with the backpack early the following morning, and when he returned, it was empty, according to Blaha, who told the police. Thomas eventually provided the location of the body’s disposal in a remote area to the north of the North Central Iowa Regional landfill on December 5. According to surveillance video, Thoma left the apartment carrying the backpack and returned with one that was “clearly empty.”

Thoma also described how he used a pair of scissors they had in their apartment to cut the baby’s umbilical cord and stored pieces of it as a memento of the child. Police later found the placenta or umbilical cord in the couple’s dresser’s top drawer.