Decades Later, Woman Who Allowed Infant to Die in Plastic Bag Finally Apprehended in New Jersey

Four decades later, a teenage mother has been found to have left her newborn baby to die in a plastic bag on Christmas Eve 40 years ago.

Mary Catherine Snyder was just 17 years old when she left her unnamed daughter near a stream in a wooded area of ​​Mendham Township, New Jersey in 1984. She wrapped the little girl in a towel before placing her in a plastic bag with the umbilical cord still connected.

The baby’s death was ruled a homicide after a medical examiner determined she did not die during birth. The girl was baptized by a local priest, the Rev. Michael Drury of St. Joseph Church, who also worked as a city police chaplain. He named her Maria and saw that she was buried in the church cemetery. Police followed the case for four decades and “Father Mike,” who is 80, holds a Christmas Eve service for the girl each year.

Investigators finally caught up with Snyder last year because modern DNA testing methods helped police identify the father of the now-dead girl.

Last week, the now 57-year-old woman was sentenced to a year in jail after pleading guilty to involuntary manslaughter, the Morris County Prosecutor’s Office confirmed. She was publicly identified for the first time last week, as reported by NY Post.