A Utah judge sentenced both parents to consecutive prison terms on Friday after they admitted letting their 18-month-old daughter waste away in a filthy crib while they blasted music to drown out her cries.
Carrie Marie Murray and Mitchell Chestnut Murray, both 32, received two consecutive one-to-15-year terms in Utah’s First District Court for the March 2025 death of Ruby Marie Murray. The Nibley, Cache County, couple had entered guilty pleas in July to child abuse homicide and aggravated child abuse.
Utah District Judge Spencer Walsh delivered a blistering assessment from the bench during the hearing. “It’s appalling… It’s shocking the type of neglect demonstrated here,” he declared.
The details outlined in charging documents paint a devastating picture of Ruby’s final days. The toddler spent all but six hours of her last four days confined to her crib, according to Crime Online. Mitchell Murray described these stretches to investigators as “crib days,” explaining that Ruby remained in her crib all day while he worked, occurring one to two days per week, though he claimed to check on her periodically.
The night before she died, as Ruby cried and gasped for air, her parents played loud music rather than help her. She was found dead the next morning around 10:30 a.m.
Deputies who responded to the home discovered the infant wearing long-sleeved pajamas in a sleep sack with several blankets — despite a space heater that had warmed the room to 77 degrees. The crib contained several sippy cups and what investigators described as a “large amount of pieces of Egg-style waffle with trash and waffles under the mattress as well.”
Ruby weighed just 17 pounds at death. The Utah State Medical Examiner’s Office officially ruled the cause of death as dehydration and malnutrition.
Perhaps most chilling was the mother’s reaction to investigators. Carrie Murray, a trained registered nurse and mother of two, reportedly told them she felt it was the infant’s time to die.
“It was her time, I guess,” she offhandedly reckoned.
She followed that with a stark contradiction of emotion. “I feel guilt really strongly — I feel no guilt over this.”
The callousness extended to the moment of discovery. Neither parent attempted life-saving measures when they found Ruby dead — this despite Carrie Murray’s professional medical training.
The case has drawn intense scrutiny to the circumstances that allowed such prolonged abuse to continue unchecked in the Cache County community.