Alivia Thrift expressed interest astir the information of her 1-year-old girl Evangelina successful a bid of telephone conversations, yet crying, sounding panicked and saying that “something is truly wrong,” her sister testified recently.
Robin Rose Yager tried to person Thrift to question attraction for her one-year-old girl Evangelina, but Thrift resisted, she said.
Finally, she drove to Thrift’s flat successful Henderson successful the aboriginal hours of March 24. There, she discovered that Eva — whom she had not seen in-person since the baby’s day successful January — was dead.
A constabulary study described the child’s assemblage arsenic “extremely malnourished and emaciated.” Her ribs were pronounced, her abdomen was sunken beneath her rib cage, her look was thin, her tegument code was ashen and her assemblage bore marks that appeared to beryllium abrasions oregon burns, according to the report. A coroner researcher said sores connected her arms could person travel from cockroaches oregon furniture bugs.
Thrift, 26, was indicted successful July connected a number of execution and a number of kid abuse, neglect oregon endangerment resulting successful important bodily harm. Prosecutors person said they judge they tin amusement that she intentionally starved her kid to death.
Clark County Medical Examiner Nathan Shaller testified to expansive jurors that Eva weighed astir 9 pounds astatine her death, which is typically what a kid would measurement betwixt commencement and 3 months.
Eva’s decease and the resulting transgression allegations person been met with bewilderment by Yager and Brendan Pearce, Eva’s father.
“I didn’t cognize until she was already dying oregon deceased and the infinitesimal I knew, I called 911,” said Yager successful a caller interview.
“If I had known, I would person risked thing to prevention her,” she added.
“I consciousness similar she tricked each of america up until the precise extremity wherever she yet couldn’t fell thing anymore,” said Pearce, who besides saw Eva for the past clip months earlier her death.
Eva’s abbreviated life
Evangelina Joy Thrift’s abbreviated beingness began successful a bathtub, according to Yager.
A commencement certificate exertion indicated that Eva weighed conscionable 5 pounds and 8 ounces astatine birth, and was calved astatine an flat successful Salt Lake County, Utah.
Yager said it wasn’t wide wherefore her sister wanted a earthy birth.
“She conscionable didn’t consciousness comfy being astatine the infirmary and I couldn’t get a existent consecutive reply retired of her astir it,” she recalled.
Thrift refused to let her to beryllium present, she testified astatine a expansive assemblage hearing.
Pearce was besides not determination erstwhile Eva was born, but helium said Thrift sent him photos and made video calls to him instantly afterwards. Once she had healed, helium said, she drove to Arizona, wherever helium lived, truthful that helium could conscionable his girl successful person.
The 2 had been friends since they were children successful Tempe, Arizona, but did not commencement officially dating until aft Eva was born, helium said.
He described Thrift arsenic an “overachiever, effort hard benignant of person” who acceptable up her ain doctor’s appointments and filled retired authoritative paperwork herself arsenic a teenager.
She had hoped to go a journalist, helium said. She attended Arizona State University betwixt the autumn of 2018 and the autumn of 2019, but did not graduate.
According to Pearce, it was Thrift who initially raised the thought of having a child.
“Alivia was similar the 1 idiosyncratic that everybody successful some my household and her household figured would beryllium the champion astatine being a mother,” helium said successful a telephone interview. “The information that this has adjacent happened has shocked some sides of the household due to the fact that cipher saw this retired of her.”
After uncovering retired that she was pregnant, helium said Thrift moved to the Salt Lake City area. She had go a fervent Latter-day Saint astir 2022 oregon 2023 and wanted to beryllium successful a spot wherever her religion was much prominent, helium said.
Yager remembered things differently. She said Thrift whitethorn person been baptized successful The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, but was not progressive and attended Christian churches.
Pearce recalled that she was besides precise steadfast that their kid would instrumentality her past sanction and not his.
That was due to the fact that she disquieted that the parent of a erstwhile kid helium had could effort to instrumentality Evangelina if the babe shared his past name, helium said, describing her arsenic “paranoid.”
But “she seemed similar a loving mom,” said Yager.
And Eva seemed to adore her mother, lighting up with a large grin successful her mother’s presence.
The archetypal and lone words Yager heard Eva accidental were “ma, ma, ma,” she recalled.
Apparent isolation
In the autumn of 2025, Pearce went to Salt Lake City to assistance Thrift battalion and determination to Henderson, wherever she would beryllium person to her sister Yager, who lives successful Pahrump.
Pearce came excessively due to the fact that helium wanted to beryllium astir his girl and assistance Thrift, helium said.
Eva seemed steadfast and portion she could beryllium delicate to formula, helium said helium and Thrift were capable to fig that retired and tried to modulation her to brushed foods.
Their babe liked to devour and “had nary problems decidedly making america alert erstwhile she was hungry,” helium said.
After they moved to Henderson, Pearce said his narration with Thrift became strained.
He was trying to find a occupation portion they were unpacking and caring for Eva, helium said.
One day, Pearce said Thrift lashed retired and grabbed his telephone from him. He grabbed it backmost and she deed him successful the backmost of the caput with her fist, helium said.
He stuffed his things into a backpack and walked out.
After spending astir a week stateless connected the streets of Las Vegas, a person bought him a autobus summons and helium returned to Arizona successful precocious October, helium said.
The past clip Pearce said helium saw Eva in-person was conscionable earlier helium got connected the autobus backmost to Tucson. He said helium was near with the representation of her “bubbly, little, blessed look looking up astatine me.”
He maintained interaction with Thrift due to the fact that of his daughter, helium said, chiefly done substance messages but besides via the occasional telephone call. She’d springiness him updates connected Eva and inquire him if he’d recovered a occupation due to the fact that she wanted him to wage kid support.
“She ne'er showed a azygous motion that thing was wrong,” helium said. “She ne'er acted similar she didn’t privation the child. She ne'er asked for immoderate other assistance from anybody other speech from yelling astatine maine astir kid support. She conscionable wholly made it look similar Eva was A-OK and similar she was taking attraction of her similar immoderate mean mother.”
The past connection helium received from Thrift came astir a week and fractional earlier the coroner’s bureau called to archer him of Evangelina’s death, helium said.
The substance said “basically, hey is your telephone inactive active?” helium recalled. By that point, helium said helium was “kind of conscionable ignoring her messages,” sick of proceeding astir kid support.
At Eva’s archetypal day successful January, Yager testified that the babe seemed well.
“She inactive looked good,” she said. “She looked plump, she looked healthy, she was happy, she had bully airy successful her eyes.”
But she besides told expansive jurors that Eva was successful bedewed covering due to the fact that she repeatedly spit up her formula.
Yager tried to suggest that Eva mightiness person a beverage allergy, she said, but Thrift refused to alteration the milk.
After Eva’s birthday, she said successful an interrogation that Thrift stopped bringing her babe to household gatherings, telling her relatives the kid was with a babysitter. But Yager saw her niece successful photos, including 1 successful February.
She testified that she asked Thrift wherefore Eva appeared to beryllium truthful tiny successful the picture. Thrift told her that Eva was teething and grumpy, Yager said.
“Hindsight lets you look backmost and person a much captious eye,” she said successful an interview. “I noticed that her hairsbreadth looked thinner, but it besides looked wet.”
She besides noticed that Eva’s tegument colour appeared to beryllium different, but wondered if that could beryllium due to the fact that of the lighting successful the photo.
Weeks later, erstwhile different sister tried to astonishment Thrift with a sojourn successful March, Thrift refused the sojourn and would not let the sister to spot Eva, Yager testified.
Phone calls, past a grisly discovery
Then came the telephone calls.
The 6:30 p.m. speech betwixt Yager and Thrift connected March 23 was normal, Yager testified. After Thrift mentioned that thing seemed “off” with Eva, she said if the concern became atrocious she would spell to the hospital, said Yager.
They talked again astatine 8:30 p.m., she said.
The speech started disconnected casually, she testified, “and past arsenic the speech progressed she fto maine cognize that she was a spot much disquieted astir Eva, possibly determination was thing truly incorrect with her, she didn’t truly know.”
Yager said she encouraged Thrift to instrumentality Eva to spot a doc and she refused, saying it wasn’t rather an emergency.
Then came a telephone astatine 11 p.m., she testified, successful which Thrift sounded “completely panicked.” That led Yager and her lad to commencement driving to conscionable Thrift.
“She was venting astir being disquieted and didn’t privation to instrumentality her successful due to the fact that she doesn’t cognize if it’s safe.” Yager said successful an interview. “And I’m like, ‘That’s ridiculous, instrumentality her successful if you’re doubting it astatine all. Take her in.’ And she’s like, ‘Yeah, but what if CPS gets involved?’”
She recalled Thrift fretting astir Eva being small. Yager reminded her that wasn’t new.
A kid payment disclosure astir Eva’s decease said Clark County Family Services had nary anterior kid protective services past with her.
While Yager and her lad were connected their way, Thrift instructed them to crook around, insisting that she was overreacting, Yager testified, and erstwhile Yager couldn’t person her otherwise, they reluctantly obeyed her wishes.
Thrift had claimed to beryllium astatine a babysitter’s house, Yager told the expansive jury, and Yager had nary thought wherever that was. She felt confused and helpless, but she trusted her sister to instrumentality attraction of Eva, she said successful an interview.
In a telephone hours later, Yager told the expansive assemblage that Thrift “kind of wailed out” and indicated some that she was not definite Eva was breathing and that Eva was inactive live and moving.
Yager woke up her lad and they headed toward Las Vegas, she testified.
As they were driving from Pahrump, Yager told expansive jurors that she remained connected the telephone with her sister.
“She’s inactive refusing to telephone 911,” she testified. “She’s inactive refusing to instrumentality her to the doctor.”
She thought astir hanging up and calling 911 herself, she said in an interview, but was disquieted to extremity the call, not knowing whether her sister mightiness beryllium suicidal.
At Thrift’s flat complex, she said testified that Thrift insisted connected coming retired to them with Eva alternatively of allowing them into the apartment.
Eva was “was wholly airy colored, possibly adjacent a airy bluish hue to her, conscionable precise grayish colour and her lips were the deepest purple that I’ve seen and truthful I knew instantly she was deceased,” Yager told expansive jurors.
Yager called 911 astatine astir 3:30 a.m., according to a Henderson Police Department report, and officers responded 2 minutes later.
Police described the information of Thrift’s flat arsenic “deplorable.”
Henderson Police Department Det. Nickolas Papacs testified that it was filled with trash, including bare Sprite bottles and bags of half-eaten food.
At the scene, helium said helium and different investigators wore Tyvek suits, booties and gloves.
‘Torture she indispensable person endured’
Days aft the find that Eva had died, Clark County prosecutors charged Thrift with kid abuse, neglect oregon endangerment resulting successful important bodily harm.
But past prosecutors received autopsy findings.
Shaller observed that she had suffered an “extreme simplification successful assemblage abdominous and muscle” and that parts of her assemblage were covered successful abrasions, which helium suggested could beryllium related to lying successful feces, vomit, urine oregon decaying milk.
He besides recovered that her bosom musculus was starting to dice and that she “didn’t adjacent person capable calories to marque the abdominous successful the bony marrow to regenerate the marrow elements,” helium said.
He determined that she died from starvation and that the mode of decease was a homicide.
The expansive assemblage that heard Shaller’s grounds and Yager’s added the execution charge.
Dr. Susan Hatters Friedman is simply a Case Western Reserve University prof of forensic psychiatry who has extensively studied filicide, the execution of children by their parents.
She said these killings astir commonly autumn into the class of fatal maltreatment oregon neglect, which would often see a starvation case. Some parents successful these cases volition accidental their child’s decease was an mishap and that they didn’t mean for the kid to die, adjacent though the decease is not truly an mishap successful the accepted consciousness and often follows chronic maltreatment oregon neglect, she said.
Such parents whitethorn consciousness overwhelmed by the child’s needs and deficiency parenting cognition oregon knowing of kid development, she said.
Mothers who termination their children are often isolated superior caregivers and victims of past unit themselves, said Friedman. They whitethorn besides person parenting accent and substance maltreatment issues. Sometimes, the genitor has intelligence illness, a property upset oregon an intelligence disability.
Since the find of her child’s decease and her arrest, Thrift has said small publicly.
She is presently successful jailhouse and declined requests for a jailhouse interview, according to the Metropolitan Police Department, which runs the Clark County Detention Center.
She besides refused to speech to constabulary without a lawyer, but told a coroner researcher that her girl had nary commencement certificate oregon Social Security fig and that she did not work, relying connected a spot money to wage her bills, according to the Henderson constabulary report.
Asked successful tribunal if she understood the charges against her, Thrift told a judge: “I recognize the meaning of them, but not wherefore they’re applied here.”
Jeffrey Maningo, Thrift’s nationalist defender, declined to remark for this story, saying helium was caller to the lawsuit and had constricted information.
Yager is near with questions astir what happened and wherefore Thrift didn’t telephone her for assistance sooner, questions she knows whitethorn ne'er beryllium answered.
She said she didn’t deliberation Thrift would intentionally termination Eva, but besides hopes her sister accepts accountability.
“I privation I could spell backmost successful clip and prevention some of them and get her immoderate assistance she needs, but nary of that’s possible,” she said. “I can’t assistance prevention Eva from the torture she indispensable person endured and the suffering she went done and thing astatine this constituent is going to beryllium capable to assistance Alivia look what she needs to face.”
Contact Noble Brigham astatine nbrigham@reviewjournal.com.
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