Pa. woman sentenced for leaving dead newborn wrapped in plastic bags in YMCA trash in 2007
05/26/2023 12:29 pm PDT
LANCASTER, Pa. (TCD) -- A 46-year-old woman will spend up to 20 years in prison for leaving her deceased newborn daughter in a trash can outside a YMCA where she worked 15 years ago.
Tara Brazzle entered an Alford plea for third-degree murder Wednesday, May 24, in Lancaster County Court, and a judge subsequently sentenced her to a minimum of five years and a maximum of 20 years in prison.
The child, who became known as Baby Mary Anne, was found dead Sept. 24, 2007, in the dumpster outside the YMCA that used to be located on North Queen Street in Lancaster. Mary Anne was born alive at 36 weeks but died from complications of asphyxia.
According to the Lancaster County District Attorney’s Office, YMCA employees discovered the baby girl, who had been wrapped in bloody towels and plastic bags and put into a canvas bag along with the umbilical cord and placenta. Detectives conducted an investigation at the time of Baby Mary Anne’s discovery and looked into women who had been pregnant at the time. The case, however, went cold.
A detective sent DNA evidence to Parabon NanoLabs, which linked Baby Mary Anne to a second cousin. The detective created a "reverse family tree" that eventually connected Brazzle to the child.
Brazzle admitted to detectives she gave birth to Baby Mary Anne and that she "failed to seek any prenatal care for the baby and did not provide any medical care to the baby after giving birth."
Brazzle put the child in the dumpster a few days later.
The day after investigators interviewed her at her home in Valparaiso, Indiana, she flew to California, where she was arrested.
MORE:
- MOTHER GUILTY IN COLD-CASE HOMICIDE OF “BABY MARY ANNE,” WILL SERVE UP TO 20 YEARS IN PRISON - Lancaster County District Attorney's Office
- MOTHER ARRESTED IN COLD-CASE HOMICIDE YEARS AFTER BABY "MARY ANNE" DISCARDED IN DUMPSTER, 7/6/2021 - Lancaster County District Attorney's Office
- Indiana woman arrested in California in cold-case homicide of newborn left in Pennsylvania dumpster, 7/9/2021 - TCD
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