DAYTON, Ohio - A mother was arrested on suspicion of murdering her newborn daughter by putting the baby in a microwave oven.

China Arnold, 26, was jailed Monday on a charge of aggravated murder, more than a year after she brought her dead month-old baby to a hospital. Bail was set Tuesday at $1 million.

“We have reason to believe, and we have some forensic evidence that is consistent with our belief, that a microwave oven was used in this death,” said Ken Betz, director of the Montgomery County coroner’s office.

He said the evidence included high-heat internal injuries and the absence of external burn marks on the baby, Paris Talley.

Arnold was arrested soon after the baby’s death in August 2005, then was released while authorities investigated further. Betz said the case was difficult because “there is not a lot of scientific research and data on the effect of microwaves on human beings.”

The death was ruled a homicide caused by hyperthermia, or high body temperature. The absence of external burns ruled out an open flame, scalding water or a heating pad as the cause, Betz said.

Arnold’s lawyer, Jon Paul Rion, said his client had nothing to do with her child’s death and was stunned when investigators told her that a microwave might have been involved.

“China — as a mother and a person — was horrified that such an act could occur,” Rion said.

The night before the baby was taken to the hospital, Arnold and the child’s father went out for a short time and left Paris with a babysitter, Rion said. The mother didn’t sense anything out of the ordinary until the next morning, when the child was found unconscious, Rion said.

Arnold has three other children.

both of these stories blow my mind and sicken me to the point of speechlesness. ir eally dont know what to say. i just cant believe anyone could do anything like that to children.

the cocaine thing is odd, i mean, i remember hearing about a woman giving her baby xanax to get him to sleep and overdosing him.....cocaine would make a child go crazy, no? an the microwave? my god. now, how did they figure it was the mom and not the sitter that did it?

and to think, there are so many couples who would make wonderful parents but who for biological reasons cannot......unfair, to say the least.

Airing my dirty laundry at: Peacocks on Leashes