In a case that sent shockwaves across the United States, China Arnold was found guilty of a truly unthinkable act: the murder of her 28-day-old daughter, Paris, by placing her in a microwave for two horrific minutes. This appalling crime, committed by Arnold who was 31 at the time, stemmed from a dispute with her boyfriend over the child’s paternity.
Medical experts were deeply disturbed by their findings. Paris’s tiny body had reached fatal temperatures, leading Dr. Marcella Fierro, a former chief medical examiner, to starkly state, “She was cooked.” Authorities believe Paris’s body temperature skyrocketed to between 107 to 109 degrees Fahrenheit, leading to her death from extreme internal heat. Despite no external burns, the internal damage was catastrophic.
The legal journey for Arnold was lengthy and complex, involving three separate trials. Though she avoided the death penalty, court-appointed psychiatrists confirmed she had normal intelligence and no signs of mental illness. After initial trials and appeals, her third and final trial in May 2011 resulted in a unanimous guilty verdict for aggravated murder and a sentence of life imprisonment without the possibility of parole. China Arnold has been serving her sentence at the Ohio Reformatory for Women since 2008, bringing a degree of finality to this profoundly tragic chapter.
