A 29-year-old Minnesota mother will spend less than a decade in prison for killing her 3-year-old daughter by suffocating her because she refused to stop crying.
Suad Mohamed Ali, who authorities claim “smiled the entire time” medics were attempting to revive her daughter, was sentenced to 12 1/2 years in a state correctional facility for the horrific slaying, according to court documents reviewed by Law&Crime.
Under state law, Ali is only required to serve two-thirds of her sentence in detention, with the remaining third served on supervised release. Ali could end up serving just over six years in total, based on his good behavior and time served.
In imposing the seemingly lenient sentence, Otter Tail County Judge Sharon Grewell-Benson noted that both prosecutors and Ali’s defense attorneys acknowledged that the defendant has severe mental health issues and was not taking her prescription medication when she killed her daughter, the Fergus Falls Daily Journal reported.
Ali was initially charged with first and second-degree murder, but those charges were dropped after she agreed with prosecutors to plead guilty to one count of second-degree murder without intent while committing a felony, according to court records.
As previously reported by Law&Crime, officers from the Pelican Rapids Police Department responded to a call about an unresponsive 3-year-old at a home in the 300 block of River Road around 9:38 p.m. on July 10, 2023.
When first responders arrived, they reported finding a family member kneeling over the child, who was lying on her back on the living room floor.
An officer checked on the victim, who was still warm but had no pulse, and started performing CPR.
Other officers discovered Ali sitting on the couch and asked her what had happened to the little girl. In response, she allegedly stated that “she killed her,” according to a probable cause affidavit.
Deputies from the Otter County Sheriff’s Office then arrived on the scene to help with the investigation. A sheriff’s detective interviewed Ali, who allegedly admitted to killing the child a second time. The detective observed that while first responders were performing CPR on Ali’s daughter, Ali was “lying on the couch.”
“She stated she placed her hand over the child’s mouth and suffocated her after the child was continuously crying,” according to the confession. “She stated that she attempted to stab her child with a knife earlier in the night but did not injure her.
[A deputy] discovered a knife on the arm of a couch in the living room. “Defendant [Ali] stated that she purposefully attempted to kill her daughter.”
Ringdahl Ambulance medics arrived around 9:42 p.m. and took over performing CPR. During the lifesaving procedure, the victim “vomited and turned her head to the side.” The ambulance medics stated that they saw no visible trauma on the child and asked Ali what had happened to her while still performing CPR.
“The Defendant [Ali] said she shook and suffocated the child while smiling the entire time CPR was performed,” according to the confession.
The victim was transported by ambulance to Essentia St. Mary’s Hospital in Detroit Lakes, where she was pronounced dead shortly after arrival.
Ali was interviewed by detectives that evening after being booked into the Otter Tail County Detention Facility. When asked what happened to her daughter, she allegedly said for the third time that she “killed her.” Ali went on to say that the child’s father had “abandoned them,” and she was raising her daughter with her mother, who usually feeds her but was not present that day.
Ali also admitted to punching her daughter in the throat to stop her crying and saying she “laid on top of the child while [the child] was face down on the floor to quiet her.”
