Baby girl found dead in woods on Christmas Eve in 1984. Mom now charged, officials say
Two boys found a newborn baby girl’s body wrapped in a towel inside a plastic bag in the woods more than 38 years ago. She still had her umbilical cord attached.
The discovery was made the morning of Christmas Eve in Mendham Township, New Jersey in 1984, according to the Morris County Prosecutor’s Office.
An autopsy revealed the infant was alive when she was born, before she was abandoned, and her death was ruled a homicide by a medical examiner, officials said.
Rev. Michael Drury, a police chaplain of St. Joseph Church in Mendham Township, baptized the baby and decided to name her “Mary,” according to officials, who said she was laid to rest at the church.
For nearly four decades, the case remained cold — until investigators recently learned the identities of the girl’s biological parents, the prosecutor’s office announced in a Sept. 7 news release.
The baby’s father died before he was identified, according to officials. Investigators believe he had no idea the biological mother was pregnant or gave birth.
As for the mother, investigators tracked her down where she now lives in South Carolina, Prosecutor Robert J. Carroll said at a Sept. 7 news conference.
Now she’s been charged with manslaughter, according to officials. Her identity is not being made public because she was a juvenile when she gave birth to Baby Mary in 1984, officials said.
“The death and abandonment of this baby girl is a tragic loss and even after nearly 40 years, remains just as heartbreaking,” Carroll said in the release.
The identification of the baby’s parents involved the help of ”new technology” and “old-fashioned police work,” the release said.
On April 24, a juvenile delinquency complaint was filed against the mother ahead of the manslaughter charge, according to the release.
“Justice may not take the form the public has imagined all these years, but we believe with this juvenile delinquency complaint, justice is being served for Baby Mary,” Carroll said. “Nothing can right this terrible wrong.”
For more than three decades, people have gathered at the baby’s burial site at St. Joseph Church, according to Mendham Township Police Chief Ross Johnson.
“Every Christmas Eve for the past 35 years members of our department and community have left their own families at noon to remember Baby Mary at a service by her grave, to ensure she is never forgotten,” Johnson said.
Mendham Township is about 35 miles west of New York City.
This story was originally published September 8, 2023 at 10:25 AM with the headline "Baby girl found dead in woods on Christmas Eve in 1984. Mom now charged, officials say."
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