The homicide case includes earlier state safety concerns and a later tribal custody shift.
FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. — A toddler’s death inside a Flagstaff hotel room has become a homicide prosecution and a child welfare question after records showed state officials had earlier found the child unsafe.
Ochra Manakaja, listed by Coconino County as 32, faces a 21-count indictment in the death of her young son, whose body police found May 17 in a freezer at a La Quinta Inn and Suites near Huntington Road and Bronco Way. The case is now centered on murder and child abuse charges, but it also reaches back to December 2024, when Arizona’s Department of Child Safety received a report involving the family and obtained court authorization to take custody of the child.
The state agency later said the mother’s tribe asserted jurisdiction and assumed custody after the child was removed, according to reports citing the department. Public reports have not identified the tribe or described the full custody path after that point. The child was later back in Manakaja’s care, living with her and two older brothers before the hotel room discovery. FOX 10 Phoenix reported that questions remained about the child’s move from state child welfare authority to tribal custody before his death. No public report reviewed for this story said another person was being sought as a suspect.
The criminal case began with a call that pulled police to the hotel just after 9:30 a.m. May 17. Investigators said Manakaja called 911, reported that her child was dead, then told the dispatcher, “I killed him,” before hanging up. Officers entered the hotel room and found the toddler wrapped inside a tote or blanket, placed in a clear plastic box and stored in a freezer. His two older brothers, ages 7 and 9, were inside the room but were not physically hurt, police said. They were removed safely from the scene.
Court documents described a household with little outside support. Manakaja allegedly told police she had been the only caretaker for her three children for the past year and said no one helped care for them or visited them. Investigators said she told the older boys that their baby brother was at a hospital or doctor’s office while his body was hidden. That account is part of why the case has drawn attention beyond the alleged moment of violence. It covers the days after the child became ill, the weeks his absence was explained away and the systems that had contact with the family before his death.
Police said Manakaja admitted throwing the toddler into his crib on April 29 because he was crying and fussy and she was frustrated. After that, investigators said, he vomited, stopped eating normally, became weak and pale, and developed a fever. Manakaja allegedly told police she did not seek medical help because she feared legal consequences. She was on probation in a DUI case, according to court records cited in local reports, and had a criminal history that included aggravated assault. The records do not show that those prior matters caused the child’s death, but they appear in the timeline Manakaja gave investigators.
On May 1, according to the court account, Manakaja found the child unresponsive after the older children had gone to school. He was face up, his eyes were closed and he was not breathing. She tried to wake him with a cold rag, investigators said. Manakaja allegedly told police she believed he may have choked after vomiting. Instead of calling for help, she left for a required probation-related testing appointment after the child had been dead for two to three hours, according to the account she gave police. When she returned, she wrapped him and put him in the freezer.
The wrapping became one of the most detailed parts of the record released publicly. Court documents said Manakaja wrapped the child in a blanket, covered him with plastic, secured the covering with tape and placed him inside a clear container. Investigators said she then used duct tape on the freezer door because she did not want an odor. When officers found the body more than two weeks later, the child was described as frozen and about 26 degrees. The medical examiner’s final cause and manner of death had not been publicly released in the reports reviewed.
Prosecutors took the case to a grand jury within days of the discovery. On May 21, the panel returned an indictment charging one count of first-degree felony murder, one count of second-degree murder, two counts of child abuse likely to cause death or serious physical injury, 16 counts of child abuse not likely to cause death or serious physical injury, and one count of abandonment or concealment of a dead body. The Coconino County Attorney’s Office announced the indictment May 22 and said it extended condolences to those affected by the case.
The indictment is an accusation, not a conviction. It allows the case to move forward in court and gives prosecutors room to present evidence about the alleged assault, the failure to seek medical care, the concealment of the body and the conditions around the surviving children. Earlier reports said Manakaja was held in the Coconino County Jail on a $1 million cash-only bond and ordered not to contact her older sons. Her attorney information and plea status were not clear in the public reports reviewed.
For investigators and prosecutors, the next phase is expected to depend heavily on medical evidence, recorded statements, child welfare records and testimony about the family’s care arrangements. For child welfare officials, the case leaves unanswered questions about what happened after the December 2024 safety finding and the transfer to tribal jurisdiction. Those questions may be addressed in court records, agency reviews or later public statements.
The case remains pending in Coconino County, with no final medical ruling publicly reported and no other suspect identified. The next court proceedings are expected to define how the 21 counts will be argued and what records become part of the public case.
Author note: Last updated June 17, 2026.