‘Baby Mary’ cold case is cracked as New Jersey cops charge mother of newborn found dead in the woods on Christmas Eve nearly 40 years ago following DNA breakthrough

The infamous unsolved case of “Baby Mary” was solved nearly four decades later, with the newborn’s mother charged with her daughter’s death following a DNA discovery.

Baby Mary was found dead in a remote wooded area near Mendham Township, New Jersey, on Christmas Eve 1984. She had been wrapped in a blanket in a plastic bag with the umbilical cord still attached.

Two boys made the horrific discovery while walking along a creek along Mt. Pleasant Road, police said. The medical examiner revealed that the baby was less than a day old when she died. His death was ruled a homicide.

On Thursday, Morris County Prosecutor Robert Caroll made the stunning announcement that the parents had been identified and an arrest had been made.

The baby’s father died years ago and the mother, now 57, is charged with manslaughter. Carroll said the mother’s name was not released since she was a minor at the time of the crime and is being charged as such, the prosecutor said: New Jersey Advanced Media reported.

Carroll said their findings in the decades-long unsolved case were a combination of “new technology and old-fashioned police work.”

Authorities arrested the mother on April 24 in South Carolina, where she reportedly lived, more than 38 years after the heinous act.

She is not currently in custody, but is being “monitored,” Carroll said. She faces up to three years in prison if convicted, the outlet reported.

“The death and abandonment of this little girl is a tragic loss and, even after 40 years, it remains just as heartbreaking,” Carroll said.

Authorities said the teen, who was just 17 at the time, left her infant daughter in a secluded park on a cold winter night in Mendham Township.

She is the subject of an indictment as a minor, a complaint for juvenile delinquency and involuntary homicide. If the crime had been committed by an adult, it would be a second degree offense. NBC4 New York reported.

Detectives say the baby’s father died years ago before he was identified by investigators.

Carroll said the man, who was 19 at the time, was unaware the baby had been born and was not involved in her death. He died in 2009.

He said in 1984 the mother was attending school and both parents lived in Morris County.

Although the prosecutor did not reveal whether geneology sites were used in the groundbreaking discovery, he said a DNA match was made between Baby Mary and her father.

No possible reason for abandoning the baby was provided.

The investigation involved law enforcement agencies, including the FBI, as well as several agencies in New Jersey, Florida and South Carolina.

Investigators have pursued “hundreds, if not thousands of leads” to identify the mother” over the years, Carroll said.

A chaplain at St. Joseph’s Church named the abandoned child “Baby Mary.” He baptized her and made a small grave. His final resting place is at St. Joseph Church Cemetery in Mendham.

On her headstone is a cross and a passage from Isiah 49:15 with the words: “BABY MARY, December 24, 1984. “I will never forget you. I carved you in the palm of my hand.

Every Christmas Eve, the community came together and held a graveside service attended by members of the Mendham Township Police Department.

A December 2022 post read in part: “The baby was then adopted by the MTPD with the assistance of our chaplain, Father Mike Drury, aptly named Baby Mary and buried properly at St Joe’s in the Boce.

“Every Christmas Eve at noon, MPTD officers conduct a small funeral service with a community member in her memory so she is not forgotten.”

Mendham Township Police Chief Ross Johnson expressed gratitude to Rev. Drury for remembering Baby Mary and keeping her in the public eye.

Johnson added, “finally bringing justice to this baby who never had the chance to fight for herself,” according to NJ Advance Media.

During Thursday’s press conference, Carroll said this “arrest is the culmination of decades of effort by several generations of law enforcement.”

“Justice may not take the form the public has imagined all these years, but we believe that with this juvenile delinquency complaint, justice has been served for Baby Mary. Nothing can right this terrible wrong.

In 1984, when the crime occurred, the Safe Haven Infant Protection Act did not exist in the state of New Jersey. In August 2000, the bill became law.

“I want young parents to know there is help,” said Sheriff James Gannon.

He explained that the legislation allows parents or their representatives to anonymously hand over a newborn to any emergency room of a hospital, police station, fire station, ambulance, first aider or rescue team, staffed 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

And, further, it is explained that if the baby appears to be 30 days old or younger and free from any abuse or neglect, the baby will be accepted without questions.

The Morris County Prosecutor’s Office Major Crimes Unit, Mendham Township Police or the Morris County Sheriff’s Office are asking the public to contact them if anyone has information about Baby Mary’s death.