DOUGLAS COUNTY, Ga. — The mother accused of killing her three-year-old daughter by leaving her and her brother in the freezing rain for hours is also accused of abusing her children two years ago.
35-year-old Uriha Ridge went before Douglas County Superior Court Chief Judge William Beau McClain for a first appearance hearing after she was charged with felony murder and first-degree child cruelty.
“Ms. Ridge. You have a right to remain silent,” Judge McClain told Ridge.
Ridge didn’t say much during the hearing as she heard the charges she faces in the death of her daughter, Alina.
Pictures Ridge posted on her Facebook page show Alina during happier times.
Prosecutor Lauren Wallace said Ridge was high on cocaine and marijuana when she placed Alina in dangerous conditions on Jan. 16.
“By taking the aforementioned child into the woods in the rain and freezing temperatures with minimal clothing for a period of over 11 hours, causing the child to become hypothermic and to die from exposure,” she told the court.