New Jersey couple charged with murder as abuse claims are investigated

Authorities charged India Miller and Sean Scott with murder after Miller’s 9-year-old daughter, Maya Thomas, died from severe injuries. Prosecutors said the couple told emergency services that Thomas may have been struck by a vehicle while walking a dog, but investigators determined that a vehicle had not hit her, according to the New York Post.

The charges are allegations; the sources do not report a conviction or an admission of guilt. The accounts place the emergency call at about 1:10 a.m. Tuesday. The New York Post and NJ1015 report that Miller and Scott called 911, while 6abc says Scott made the call. NJ1015 reports that prosecutors said the couple reported their daughter was not breathing.

Authorities described a vehicle collision as part of the reported account, but the New York Post says investigators ruled out that explanation. The sources also describe evidence investigators found inside the home. 6abc reports that police found what appeared to be bloody children’s clothing in a tub.

NJ1015 says investigators found blood in the family bathroom and on clothing. These accounts do not establish, by themselves, how Thomas sustained her injuries or who caused them. NJ1015 reports that Thomas received hospital care for severe injuries and that prosecutors said she was pronounced dead at 6:42 p.m. Tuesday.

The outlet identifies Gloucester County Prosecutor Andrew Johns as the source for the account of the arrest and death. The New York Post says Miller, 27, and Scott, 45, are accused of murdering Thomas; those ages are not given in the other article excerpts.

A separate abuse investigation is reported by the New York Post, which says authorities are examining claims that the couple abused Thomas. The outlet also reports an allegation that homeschooling kept others from seeing bruises.

Thomas’s maternal grandmother, Lynn Miller, told the outlet that she had raised Thomas in Las Vegas from age 18 months until age 7, before Thomas moved with her mother to New Jersey. The allegation about homeschooling is not presented as an established finding. The sources emphasize different parts of the case.

6abc and NJ1015 focus on the alleged false vehicle account, the charges and evidence investigators say they found. The New York Post adds the reported abuse investigation and the grandmother’s account of Thomas’s earlier care. The accounts do not provide a court determination of the abuse claims or a final finding on how Thomas received the injuries.

The next steps documented in these reports concern the criminal case and the abuse investigation. The couple faces murder charges, while the reported inquiry into abuse remains an allegation under investigation. The sources do not describe a court hearing, charging decision on the abuse claims, or outcome of either process.