{"id":813,"date":"2026-05-23T14:33:28","date_gmt":"2026-05-23T14:33:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/tucsonmovingreport.com\/?p=813"},"modified":"2026-05-23T14:33:28","modified_gmt":"2026-05-23T14:33:28","slug":"mother-indicted-in-death-of-toddler-found-in-plastic-box-at-flagstaff-hotel","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tucsonmovingreport.com\/?p=813","title":{"rendered":"Mother indicted in death of toddler found in plastic box at Flagstaff hotel"},"content":{"rendered":"
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FLAGSTAFF, AZ (AZFamily)<\/b> \u2014 A grand jury on Thursday indicted a woman accused of killing her toddler son and then hiding his body for weeks. <\/p>\n

Read more Man arrested after cousin found shot to death inside Peoria home, police say<\/a><\/p>\n

Ochra Manakaja, 31, was indicted on charges of first-degree and second-degree murder, concealment of a dead body, and 18 charges of child abuse. <\/p>\n

Manakaja reportedly admitted to police this week that she killed her 17-month-old child and hid his body in a freezer for two weeks.<\/p>\n

Court documents state she called 911 Sunday morning, telling dispatchers, \u201cI killed him,\u201d and then hung up. Police responded to La Quinta Inn and Suites near Huntington Road and Bronco Way and found the toddler\u2019s body wrapped in a tote that was inside a clear plastic box.<\/p>\n

She told police she threw the toddler into his crib because she was frustrated with his crying and fussing. The child reportedly died two days later on May 1.<\/p>\n

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RELATED: Mother accused of freezing toddler’s body has criminal background<\/h6>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Manakaja was raised by both of her parents on the Havasupai Indian Reservation, according to documents. She attended Flagstaff High School, but did not graduate.<\/p>\n

She had never been married, but had two children at the time of her arrest in 2020.<\/p>\n

Read more \u2018It Takes Two\u2019 rapper Rob Base dead at 59<\/a><\/p>\n

She once worked as a teacher\u2019s aide. The report states she admitted she first tried meth at 16 and used it weekly.<\/p>\n

The toddler who died was reportedly taken away from her by Arizona DCS shortly after he was born in December 2024, but the Havasupai tribe asserted jurisdiction and took the child.<\/p>\n

Manakaja told police she had just regained custody of the baby shortly before he died, according to police reports. <\/p>\n

Police said Manakaja\u2019s two other children were found with her when she was arrested. There\u2019s been no update on the status of those children.<\/p>\n

See a spelling or grammatical error in our story? <\/i>Please click here to report it<\/i>.<\/i><\/p>\n

Do you have a photo or video of a breaking news story? Send <\/i>it to us here<\/i> with a brief description.<\/i><\/p>\n

Read more Law enforcement increases patrols for OHV violations ahead of Memorial Day weekend<\/a><\/p>\n<\/section>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Grand jury indicts Ochra Manakaja, 31, on murder and child abuse charges after police say she killed her toddler and hid his body in a freezer.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":812,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-813","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-interesting"],"yoast_head":"\nMother indicted in death of toddler found in plastic box at Flagstaff hotel - Tucson Moving Report<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/tucsonmovingreport.com\/?p=813\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Mother indicted in death of toddler found in plastic box at Flagstaff hotel - 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