10/16/2026
For years, a 9-year-old Paulsboro girl was isolated from a relative who helped raise her while enduring repeated abuse that left her with broken ribs, a ruptured colon and other injuries, authorities and family members say.
Now her mother and stepfather are charged with her murder.
The victim, Maya Thomas, was found by police unresponsive in the home with facial trauma and bruising over her body on Tuesday.
Lynn Miller, Maya’s maternal grandmother, said she raised the girl from the time she was 18 months old until she was 7 in Las Vegas. About two years ago, Maya’s mother moved her to New Jersey to live with Scott, Miller said.
“She was a happy, carefree girl,” Miller said.
Maya was never enrolled in school and was homeschooled by her mother and stepfather, according to her grandmother.
