Brandon D. Thoma and Taylor K. Blaha Wiki – Brandon D. Thoma and Taylor K. Blaha Biography
A 31-year-old father in Iowa who admitted to his role in the death of his newborn daughter by advising and coaching his partner on how to drown the child in the bathtub as soon as she was born in order to prevent the authorities from discovering meth in her system will spend several decades in prison. According to court documents analyzed by Law&Crime, Webster County Circuit Court Judge Kurt J.
Stoebe ordered Brandon D. Thoma to serve a term of 20 to 50 years in a state prison for the cold-blooded killing of young Kayleen Lee Blaha on Friday. Thoma and the prosecution came to an agreement in July under which he would admit guilt on one allegation of child endangerment that resulted in death and another offense of mistreatment of a corpse.
Brandon D. Thoma and Taylor K. Blaha Age
Brandon D. Thoma is 31 years old and Taylor K. Blaha is 24 years old.
Brandon D. Thoma and Taylor K. Blaha Incident Detail
Prosecutors decided not to pursue a first-degree murder charge against Thoma in exchange for his plea. Taylor K. Blaha, Kayleen’s mother, who was also charged with first-degree murder, pled guilty earlier this month to one count of second-degree murder in connection with her daughter’s passing. At a hearing last week, she was also given a prison term of 35 to 50 years. The couple also shares a son, who was 2 years old when Kayleen passed away.
During the court on Friday, Taylor Blaha’s father presented a victim impact statement in which he addressed Thoma and described the terrible effects of his assault on his daughter and grandkids. During the court on Friday, Taylor Blaha’s father presented a victim impact statement in which he addressed Thoma and described the terrible effects of his assault on his daughter and grandkids.
In video supplied by Des Moines CBS station KCCI, he stated, “My daughter was in this courtroom a week ago and when she was sentenced she had a big smile on her face.” “Given that you were just found guilty and given a 50-year sentence, why were you smiling? I questioned her. You are aware of her words? I’ll be in prison, Dad, and he can’t hurt me any more, she added.
Blaha said before the court during her sentencing hearing last week that Thoma “convinced” her that if law enforcement learned about her meth usage, they would arrest her. He convinced me that the baby had to be drowned in the bathtub in order to get out of this, she said. “He gave me instructions on how to proceed. He would encourage me to continue moving forward and put my hands back on her if I attempted to remove them. Therefore, she passed away.
The Iowa Department of Human Services (DHS) employee visited with Blaha at Unity Point Trinity Regional Medical Center on November 22, 2022, according to a probable cause affidavit that Law&Crime was able to receive. According to reports, Blaha said she “gave birth to a baby at her residence and that it had been buried at an undisclosed location.”
A detective from the sheriff’s office was dispatched to the area after the IDHS employee made contact with the Webster County Law Enforcement Center. Blaha claimed during an interview with the detective that she learned she was expecting Thoma’s child in April 2022. They already have a son together, age 2.
On November 16, she gave birth to a girl in the toilet of their Fort Dodge, Iowa, apartment, which is located in the 900 block of Central Avenue.She claimed that Thoma was in the apartment’s bedroom when she gave birth, but afterward, he came into the bathroom to assist her in transitioning from her seat on the toilet to the baby’s position in the bathtub, according to the affidavit.
The baby was delivered alive, wailing, moving her arms and legs, and opening her eyes so Blaha could see that Kayleen had brown eyes. She recommends the two that they named the child Kayleen Lee Blaha. Blaha allegedly claimed that she requested Thoma for methamphetamine to ease her labor pain, and he gave it to her. The girl will be given up for adoption by Blaha’s sister, she said the detective, adding that they had “no intentions” of keeping the child.
She stated that Thoma used a pair of scissors to cut off the umbilical cord and saved “sections of the cord to remember the baby.” Blaha, however, admitted to the investigators that she and Thoma quickly started to worry that their neighbors might overhear Kayleen sobbing and call the police.
They feared losing custody of their 2-year-old kid if police visited the house and discovered methamphetamine in the baby’s bloodstream. Blaha continued, “Blaha went on to explain that in order to stop the crying the two placed Kayleen in the bathtub, which was about half full of water, and placed both of their hands on the baby’s chest, forcing her underwater, ultimately killing her,” the affidavit reads. Blaha added that Thoma had shown her how to accomplish this.
After the infant was placed under water, according to Blaha, Thoma removed the child from the bathtub and set her outside of the tub before putting her in a plastic storage container, wrapping her in several trash bags, and carrying her out of the apartment in a black backpack.Although Kayleen’s body was never found, during a search warrant execution at their flat, detectives discovered what seemed to be a piece of the umbilical chord that Thoma had kept as a souvenir to “remember” his daughter.