Inset: Melissa Thorp (Columbus Division of Police). Background: The apartment complex where Thorp murdered her 4-month-old son (Google Maps).
An Ohio mother who crushed her infant son’s skull and then allowed him to decompose inside their home for several days before calling the police will now spend at least the next 20 years in prison.
On Thursday, Melissa R. Thorp, 40, pleaded guilty to one count of aggravated murder over the September 2022 death of 4-month-old Aaron Thorp. She was subsequently sentenced to life in prison with the possibility of parole after 20 years by Franklin County Common Pleas Court Judge Julie Lynch.
Ohio is one of several U.S. states that lacks a delineated statutory definition that encompasses degrees of murder. In the Buckeye State, however, aggravated murder is the most egregious form of homicide.
The day the boy died is unknown.
On Sept. 12, 2022, Thorp dialed 911 to report her infant son was not breathing. By 8:57 a.m. that day, he was pronounced dead — but law enforcement and first responders were puzzled.
“The Franklin County Coroner’s Office and Columbus Police homicide detectives responded to the scene,” the Columbus Division of Police wrote in an initial press release. “During the initial investigation, the coroner’s investigator and homicide detectives were unable to determine the cause and manner of death of the infant.”
The child, it seemed, had already started to decompose and had been dead for days by the time Thorp called for help.
A homicide investigation ensued.
Investigators then transported Aaron’s body to the Nationwide Children’s Hospital in the Southern Orchards neighborhood for additional X-ray scans before he was brought to the Franklin County Coroner’s Office. An autopsy was performed. On Sept. 13, 2022, the coroner determined that the infant’s manner of death was a homicide and the cause of death was blunt force trauma to the head.
The coroner found Aaron’s skull had been crushed by blunt force trauma, possibly by being placed between two objects, according to a report summarizing the findings by The Columbus Dispatch.
During her arraignment, the story got even more grim.
Thorp’s first public defender told the court his client had recently been released from a recovery program and that the “incident,” as he described the child’s death, occurred at a sober living facility, according to a report from Columbus-based ABC affiliate WSYX. At the time, the since-condemned woman was seeing a plethora of doctors, including psychiatrists, the public defender said.
Thorp’s first attorney also reportedly claimed the mother was unaware of her pregnancy until the moment she went into labor. Rather, the defense attorney argued, his client believed her pregnancy was a kidney stone — and she delivered the baby herself.
Initially filed in the Franklin County Municipal Court, Thorp’s case was dismissed when she was indicted in the Court of Common Pleas. Several continuances were issued over the intervening months.
The killer had previously pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity, court records show. Her not-guilty plea was withdrawn earlier this week.
Jerry Lambe contributed to this report.
Have a tip we should know? [email protected]
