A Douglas County woman whose 3-year-old daughter died after she kept her children in the woods for nearly 12 hours on a rainy January night was sentenced to life in prison Thursday, prosecutors said.
Uriha Ridge, 36, pleaded guilty to multiple counts, including felony murder and first-degree cruelty to children, according to the Douglas County District Attorney’s Office. Ridge told her children to be quiet while her daughter, Alina, died of exposure and hypothermia, prosecutors said.
“The loss of this young child is devastatingly tragic and entirely avoidable,” DA Dalia Racine said in a statement.
The incident began around midnight Jan. 19 when Ridge booked a room for 10 nights at the Foxhall Resort in Douglasville, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution previously reported.
According to prosecutors, Ridge had a rideshare driver drop her off in a wooded area on the resort property with her daughter Alina and her 7-year-old son, Elijah. The driver said they tried to drop the family off near the rooms but Ridge told them to keep going down toward the trails, the DA’s office said. It was raining that night and the temperature dropped as low as 25 degrees. Foxhall’s property spans more than 1,000 acres of mostly wilderness, according to its website.
Prosecutors said the rideshare driver witnessed Ridge licking a white powder, which tested positive for cocaine, off the car’s back seat before she got out with the children. Ridge also had marijuana on her and a charged cellphone throughout the ordeal but did not call for help until well after sunrise that morning, the AJC reported. Her first call was to the resort, and the workers who found Ridge and her children called 911. Alina was found lying face down in the mud, cold and unresponsive. She died at Wellstar Douglas Hospital, prosecutors said.
Elijah was found in critical condition and taken to Egleston Hospital, where he was treated for hypothermia and dehydration. The child told police that he and his sister had been in the woods all night with their mom and that his sister’s breathing started to sound funny before they were found, prosecutors said. He said he tried to warm his sister by covering her in leaves. Elijah then told his mother several times they were cold, but she told him to be quiet, according to prosecutors.
Ridge was previously arrested on child cruelty charges after she allegedly slapped one of her children at a bowling alley in Douglasville on Nov. 13, 2022, court documents showed. During that incident, witnesses said they saw Ridge slumped down in a seat inside while appearing intoxicated, prosecutors said. Next to her, one of her children was crying and asking people for help, according to the DA’s office. A witness then saw Ridge grab the child by the neck and drag him to the restroom, prosecutors said.
“The witness observed Ridge slap the oldest child on the face and the back of the neck while yelling and cursing at them,” prosecutors said. “Ridge also picked up the child and held him against the wall. The oldest was able to finally escape from Ridge’s grasp and went with the witness to the manager’s office, where they stayed until law enforcement arrived.”
Police spoke to the boy, who stated “mommy was drunk again.” Ridge was released on bond that included conditions that she abstain from alcohol and attend a therapy program for alcohol. But her bond was revoked after she was charged with drunken driving in Cobb County.
Ridge’s attorney, Alison Frutoz, said her client was suffering from addiction and other severe mental health issues when she took her children into the woods. Frutoz said her client chose to plead guilty to felony murder because of her extreme remorse, Channel 2 Action News reported. Ridge’s life sentence will include the possibility of parole, the news station reported.
According to the Georgia State Board of Pardons and Paroles, offenders sentenced to life for felony murder must serve 30 years before they become eligible for parole consideration.
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