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NorCal Mom Accused Of Killing Baby In Microwave

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Ka Yang (Photo credit: Sacramento Police)

Ka Yang (Photo credit: Sacramento Police)

SACRAMENTO (CBS 5) – Police arrested a Northern California mother Tuesday on a murder charge, saying they believed she had burned her six-week-old baby to death in a microwave oven.

Ka Yang, 29, of Sacramento, had apparently claimed the young child’s March 17 death at home was caused by a seizure.

But the Sacramento Coroner determined Mirabelle Thao-Lo died from burns, however it could not be determined how she got them. After a three-month investigation that included consulting with several medical professionals and forensic specialists, police said they concluded that Mirabelle died as a result of being burned in a microwave oven.

Police described the child as suffering “extensive thermal injuries.” Officer Laura Peck said the arrest took so long because investigators had to pinpoint what they believe is the cause of death by looking for other cases involving similar injuries.

They found three in the U.S., all after children were burned in a microwave: in Dayton, Ohio; Galveston, Texas; and New Kent County, Virginia.

“This is rare. The injuries were obviously very unique,” Peck said. “There have been only three other documented cases in the entire country where the injuries were consistent with this case. … Those children were also burned and placed in the microwave.”

Yang was booked into the Sacramento County Main Jail on Tuesday and charged with one count of homicide.

Peck said police do not know a motive. She did not believe Yang had an attorney, and none was listed in jail records.

“We wouldn’t assess her mental condition. That will be up to the court system,” Peck said. “The bottom line is no one knows what happened in that house but her and the little baby.”

Yang has three other children, all under age 7, who were removed from the home the day their sister was found dead. They are now living with relatives.

(Copyright 2011 by CBS San Francisco. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. Wire services may have contributed to this report.)

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  • Lexie Blue

    What a B1tch. She does not deserve to be a mother. Psycho, that’s what she is.

    • Rory

      they should just take her out back and shoot her in the head!!

      • Vishal

        No, don’t shoot her, that would be too easy of a punishment. Imagine how much the baby suffered being microwaved. Put her through something that compares to what the poor child went through.

      • Jennifer

        Put her in a tanning booth that wont open and turn it on HIGH!!! she can die that way so she can feel how the poor lil baby feels. cruel but a women that kill their own child deserve worst.

  • Bloodhounds

    Terrible! I wonder if the other kids were totured! Bring back the death penalty!

  • Bloodhounds

    Whoops I missed an R!

  • Tours Martel

    Just remember folks, that in America children aren’t human beings, they are a “choice”. She just carried it one step further, that’s all.

    • CaseyLee

      Isn’t that the sad truth….

    • Frank Fundingsland

      That is a stretch. Nice try.

    • Gabtab

      If she’d “chosen” not to become a mother because she knew she was mentally unstable enough to do something so incredibly stupid like microwaving a baby her other children and my dreams tonight would be a lot better off.

      Thank goodness there are women out there who have the presence of mind to know that they wouldn’t be suitable mothers and do something about it.

      • H8u

        You’re disgusting. Basically you are saying it is the baby’s fault that it got burned to death because the mother didn’t murder it while it was still in the womb? I hope someone does YOU in with a coat hanger, see how you like it.

      • thinkingdownstream

        “Thank goodness there are women out there who have the presence of mind to know that they wouldn’t be suitable mothers and do something about it.”

        This mother simply realized that she wasn’t a suitable mother and exercised her right to choose and ‘did something about it’.

        She just delayed the choice for a few months. After all, what’s a few months when it comes to a woman’s right to choose?

        The result is the same – a baby dies by horrendously torturous means.

      • antiwarmom

        I agree with you 100%. She should have “chosen” birth control or tubal ligation.

    • Mac Web

      There is a massive difference between a freshly developed fetus and a born child.

      You do nothing for your cause by making comments like that. It just makes you look foolish.

      • blender

        There is a massive difference between a freshly developed fetus and a born child
        No, the only difference is that after a baby is born you have to look it in the eye before you kill it and at that point its not politically correct. murder is murder.

    • deedee

      You ignorant piece of isht. A bundle of cells with the potential to be is so far removed from being a baby it’s laughable, And so are you. Read a book once in awhile.

    • Just me

      Well if she would have ‘chosen’ to abort this baby, at least it wouldn’t have suffered being burned from inside out at 6 weeks old.

    • Jungle Monkey

      I don’t know if you guys are stupid or not, but I think Tours Martel was being sarcastic here…

    • ML

      Well, this certainly isn’t a tasteless and completely tacky comment.

      Nope, not at all.

  • Reynan Conlu

    Try and put this psycho to a dryer and spin for an hour…she look like a monster..

  • lady b

    HOPES SHE GETS HER A** BEAT BAD IN PRISON!! !DUMB B****

  • JoMama

    Why???

  • Joey Grant

    that chick is hella broke

  • T l

    What goes around comes around. Hope she goes to hell.

  • Guest

    KILL YOURSELF B!TCH!!!!!

  • Vanessa Garcia

    wow i wish they really give it to her…. instead of wasting tax payers money to give her life in prison people like her deserve to die immediately…. like within 24 hours!!!

  • CaseyLee

    Not to be cruel, but, does the mom look like she may have some type of mental disorder? Her facial features say something that could link to that. I’m just trying to figure out WHY she would do this to the poor child. There’s got to be a reason, right?!

    • Arvind

      Really, how ignorant are you? “Oh I don’t like your features, you must be plotting to microwave your baby.” It’s people like you who make americans look stupid.

      How sad that you also agreed with the moron who compared abortion to microwaving a fully grown baby.. All you bible thumbing fools must try to use your “God-given brain cells” once in a while. Trust me, it doesn’t hurt that much.

  • ialbert

    She isnt korean. The baby’s name was mirabelle thao-lo. Either Vietnamese or Thai.

    • Jeff

      Has nothing to do with race. Asians have the lowest population in prison of any race. She obviously has mental problems. Do you think any person in their right mind could do something like this?

    • J.C.X.

      Accually she’s Hmong. Just letting you know.

  • JQP

    The mother’s lack of facial expression looks as if she may have Down’s Syndrome.

  • cheetara mountain

    she may have a mental condition but apparently she has raised other children so what makes her snap now if she was stable enough to raise the other children there is no reason that she couldn’t raise this one she is just a sick and twisted person and ppl like her deserve no pity.

  • Sdeevoon

    So much for innocent until proven guilty. It may very well have been a sibling that microwaved the baby and the mother was just covering for their other child by claiming a seizure. It’s easily conceivable a six year old could microwave a baby without understanding fully what would happen.

    • Natalie Brown

      I agree we can’t judge in a situation like this without knowing all the facts. Lets leave that the a jury.

  • Arbitrary Reader

    Ummm….None have the slightest ides of what actually happened save for this article. Last I checked, people US citizens are innocent until proven guilty. She may be a hero. Perhaps one of her other children zapped the infant and she refuses to speak. Perhaps she did it. But until then, show some tact and keep the editorial comments to yourselves. You impress no one.

    • RealityCheck

      Based upon your post, you really need to stick your head in the microwave and set it for 60 minutes. “She may be a hero. Perhaps one of her other children zapped the infant and she refuses to speak.” – Please explain exactly how that would make someone a hero? You are part of the problem. No one has the fortitude to do what needs to be done with criminals. That is part of the reason for the rampant crime which seems so pervasive in our society. When you remove someone permanently they do not procreate and pass on bad genes. You are right, she is innocent until proven guilty, which she will not because they will declare her incompetent to stand trial and send her off for “treatment.” They cannot “treat” mental illness. There is only one cure for mental illness and it is the same as should be used on a significant portion of our criminal population. It works, it is definite, and quite permanent.

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  • kat

    Reminds me of Andrea Yates. I wonder if her husband or BF expected her to be a babymachine and ignored Post partum depression until it was a full on psychosis…

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  • myself

    Mmm, gonna make me some delicious microwaved baby!

    But no. Seriously. This is horrible.

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