A Florida woman watched her newborn baby cry in a toilet after giving birth in her bathroom before stuffing the body in a duffel bag and burying it in a shallow grave in her backyard, investigators say.
Anne Mae Demegillo, 20, of Palm Coast, has been arrested and charged with aggravated manslaughter of a child after authorities say she “knowingly and purposefully” allowed the baby to drown shortly after birth.
According to the Flagler County Sheriff’s Office, an individual called 911 around 4 a.m. on March 6, requesting a welfare check after receiving text messages from Demegillo, who reportedly said she had secretly been pregnant and had given birth at home.
The messages took a disturbing turn when they indicated the baby was born alive and crying, but that Demegillo had “done something” to the infant.
When deputies arrived at Demegillo’s home, she told them she had not realized she was pregnant until she began having severe abdominal pain around 3 a.m. on March 5. She then delivered the child in her bathroom.
“She goes to the bathroom, she thought she had cramps, pains, and then a child, she goes into labor, and then delivers a child,” Chief Deputy Joe Barile said during a news conference, according to WFLA. “She sees it in the toilet, leaves it there, watches it, hears it cry, and waits until it stops crying and moving.”
Demegillo also admitted that she had hoped the newborn would die, Sheriff Rick Staly added at the news conference.
“She did tell us that she was hoping that the baby would hurry up and die,” Staly said, adding that Demegillo never contacted emergency services for help, but instead continued on with her life.
Demegillo told deputies she believed the infant was dead so she placed its body in a duffel bag in her closet and then went to the Little Theatre in New Smyrna Beach, where she was performing in the musical “Anything Goes,” investigators said.
When Demegillo returned home that night around 10 p.m., she buried the infant in a shallow grave in her backyard, according to deputies.
When the baby, who weighed less than four pounds, was found, it was determined that she had been alive long enough to inhale water from the toilet.
“She clearly was alive long enough to inhale water from the toilet into her lungs,” Staly said.
“This is a heartbreaking tragedy for our community, for the family involved, and an emotionally difficult case for our team,” Staly added. “I want to remind our community, especially our expectant mothers: Florida law allows you to bring a child at birth to a local fire station, hospital or law enforcement agency and surrender the child. That is a much better solution than what we are investigating today – for everyone involved, but most importantly the infant who was prevented from the life they deserve. May God bless this infant and hold and comfort the baby in his loving hands with the love the baby never received on earth.”
Under Florida’s Safe Haven Law, parents who cannot care for a newborn may safely surrender the child at a fire station, hospital or police station. Palm Coast also has a Safe Haven Baby Box at Fire Station 25 that allows parents to anonymously surrender a newborn, NBC Miami reported.
Demegillo is currently being held without bond. The investigation is ongoing.
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