DES MOINES, Iowa — EDITOR'S NOTE: This story contains descriptions of a crime that may be disturbing to some.
A Fort Dodge man has been sentenced to 50 years in prison for the November 2022 drowning death of his newborn.
32-year-old Brandon Thoma pleaded guilty to amended charges back in July, including one count of child endangerment resulting in the death of a child and another for abuse of a corpse. He was originally charged with first-degree murder. The prison sentence comes with a mandatory minimum of 20 years.
The newborn's mother, Taylor Blaha, has already been sentenced to 50 years in prison with a 35-year mandatory minimum before being eligible for parole.
According to a police affidavit, Blaha gave birth in a bathroom on Nov. 16, 2022. Blaha told police that she and Thoma planned on giving the baby to her sister instead of keeping it, but they panicked when the newborn started crying.
Investigators say that's when they drowned the baby in the bathtub. Thoma later admitted he took the baby out of the apartment in a backpack and returned to the apartment without the baby, according to charging documents.
Police never found a body in the area Thoma claimed he left the baby.
Both parents were arrested in December 2022, just weeks after the crime.
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