A 29-year-old mother in Minnesota will spend less than a decade behind bars for killing her 3-year-old daughter, suffocating the child because she would not stop crying. Suad Mohamed Ali, who authorities say “smiled the entire time” medics were trying to revive her daughter, was sentenced to 12 1/2 years in a state correctional facility for the horrific slaying, court documents reviewed by Law&Crime show.
Under state law, Ali is only required to serve two-thirds of her sentence in detention, with the final third to be served on supervised release. Ultimately, with good behavior and time already served, Ali could end up serving just over six years.
In handing down the seemingly lenient sentence, Otter Tail County Judge Sharon Grewell-Benson noted that both prosecutors and Ali’s defense attorneys recognized that the defendant suffers from severe mental health issues and was not taking her prescription medication when she killed her daughter, the Fergus Falls Daily Journal reported.
Ali had initially been charged with counts of first and second-degree murder, but those charges were dismissed after she reached an agreement with prosecutors to plead guilty to one count of second-degree murder without intent while committing a felony, according to court documents.
As Law&Crime previously reported, officers with the Pelican Rapids Police Department responded at about 9:38 p.m. on July 10, 2023, to a call about an unresponsive 3-year-old at a home in the 300 block of River Road. Upon arriving at the scene, first responders said they entered the house and found 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 without a pulse, and began performing CPR.
Other officers found Ali sitting on the couch and asked her what had happened to the little girl. In response, she allegedly stated that “she killed her,” police wrote in a probable cause affidavit.
Deputies with the Otter County Sheriff’s Office then arrived on the scene to assist with the investigation. A sheriff’s detective spoke with Ali, who allegedly confessed to killing the child a second time. The detective noted that while first responders were performing CPR on Ali’s daughter, Ali herself 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,” the affidavit said. “She stated she had attempted to stab her child earlier in the night with a knife but that she had not harmed her. [A deputy] did find a knife on the arm of a couch in the living room. Defendant [Ali] stated that she purposely tried to kill her daughter.”
Ringdahl Ambulance medics arrived at about 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 said they observed no visible trauma to 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,” the affidavit stated.
The ambulance transported the victim to Essentia St. Mary’s Hospital in Detroit Lakes, where she was pronounced dead shortly after arriving at the facility.
Ali was interviewed that evening by detectives after she was booked into Otter Tail County Detention Facility. When they asked what happened to her daughter, she allegedly stated for a third time that she “killed her.” Ali further explained that the child’s father had “abandoned them,” and she was raising her daughter with her mother, adding that her mother normally feeds the girl but was not around that day.
Ali also admitted to punching her daughter in the throat to stop her from crying and claimed that she “laid on top of the child while [the child] was face down on the floor to quiet her.”
