Background: Morgan Skye Thornton is led to court by deputies in Limestone County, Alabama (WAFF/YouTube). Inset: Morgan Skye Thornton (Limestone County Sheriff”s Office).
Testimony presented in an Alabama courtroom divulged chilling allegations in the case of a mother accused of beating her infant son to death.
Morgan Thornton, 35, stands charged with capital murder for allegedly killing her son, Jonah, during the night of July 31 into the early morning of Aug. 1. She had a preliminary hearing on Thursday – where a Limestone County Sheriff’s Office investigator was called to testify.
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When the investigator, Martin Evans, arrived at Thornton’s home in the 15000 block of Estate Drive in Athens at approximately 1:30 a.m. on Aug. 1, he found Thornton standing outside the house covered in blood, according to his testimony reported by Huntsville-based NBC affiliate WAFF.
As the investigator entered the room where Jonah slept, he reportedly saw bloodstains across the room. Furthermore, according to Evans, another investigator told him that the child’s father, Thornton’s husband, recounted her waking him up and telling him she had killed a “demon.”
As Law&Crime previously reported, deputies found the child “severely beaten,” but they were able to find a pulse and rushed him to a hospital. Jonah was pronounced dead at the hospital, and Thornton was identified as the suspect in his killing.
She allegedly told the medics who arrived at her home to try and save her son that she had beaten him, and shouted as they gave him CPR. However, when asked the following morning if she remembered what happened, she had a different answer.
“I swaddled him and put him to bed at 7 o’clock, and then…” she said, shaking her head when WAFF’s Noah Cowell asked her if she recalled anything after that. “Tried to give him CPR… That’s all.”
Thornton “appeared to be intoxicated,” the Limestone County Sheriff’s Office would later say, and a blood sample was taken from her. While those results are pending, Evans reportedly testified that two pints of vodka and two “shooters” were found empty at the home.
Thornton remains jailed in Limestone County under no bond. Individuals convicted of capital murder in Alabama are eligible for the death penalty.
