LOGAN, Utah (Scripps News Salt Lake City) — Both parents of a deceased Logan, Utah infant have been charged with aggravated murder in the death of the 46-day-old child.
Zachary Michael Woirhaye, 38, and Jodi Lee Anderson Woirhaye, 34, were charged after their child was found without a heartbeat and not breathing in a hotel room on Dec. 31.
Police said the official cause of death of the infant was malnutrition.
According to the probable cause affidavit, a family member called 911 after visiting the family and finding the child on the bed. First responders attempted CPR before transporting the infant to the hospital where they were removed from life support due to lack of brain activity on Jan. 12.
A detective examining the death of the child found the infant had “sunken voids in the ribs, chest, and distended abdomen,” the police report states, along with adding that the “upper portion of the [child’s] thigh, usually chunky on a baby, was sunken. The thighs were purplish-black and different from any [child] that age had ever seen.”
The detective said the baby’s “skin was wrinkled, discolored, and lacked muscle or fat.”
During an interview with police, Anderson’s mother said she had to continually remind her daughter to feed the baby during a visit to the family home over the holidays. She added that when Woirhaye would ask Anderson why she wasn’t feeding the baby, “she would yell at him.”
Anderson’s mom also said that when she attempted to speak with Jodi about her concerns regarding the care of the child, her daughter “would disconnect the call.”
An interview with Woirhaye’s mother, Lisa Rice, claims she had told her son that the baby needed to be fed more often, but that Anderson became “upset, screamed at her, and told her she knew how to care for a baby.” Rice said she told Woirhaye on Christmas Day that the two ounces the couple was feeding the baby was insufficient, but her son said Anderson “wouldn’t let him feed more.”
Anderson told the detective that on Dec. 31 she noticed the baby wasn’t breathing and wasn’t moving its fingers. She said she didn’t call 911 “because she didn’t know the hotel address.” A photo of the baby less taken less than 90 minutes before the family member called 911 was found on Anderson’s phone; when asked if the baby was dead in the photo, she answered “probably.”
The report said that Anderson told police she had deleted numerous calls and text messages from her phone because she thought she was in trouble.
During the interview with police, Anderson said she noticed the baby was getting skinny and said it was because she wasn’t “feeding him enough.”
The charges against the couple stemmed from both being told by multiple people that the feeding of the child was insufficient and needed to increase, but failed to follow through.
Anderson was also charged with an additional count of obstruction of justice.
This story was originally published July 22, 2022 by KSTU in Salt Lake City, an E.W. Scripps Company.
