A Florida woman is accused of giving birth on a toilet and leaving the baby to drown, before later hiding the child in a duffle bag and burying her in a shallow grave.
Anne Mae Demegillo, 20, of Palm Coast, is currently detained and facing charges of aggravated manslaughter of a child as the investigation continues, Fox35 Orlando reported.
According to officials, the baby girl was born around 3:00 a.m. on March 5. Flagler County deputies responded to a welfare check on Demegillo the next day after receiving a call around 4:00 a.m. on March 6 from someone who said Demegillo sent her social media messages saying she had been secretly pregnant and gave birth at home. The caller told the Flagler County Sheriff’s Office that the baby was born alive, but they believed Demegillo had done something to the child.
Demegillo told deputies she did not know she was pregnant and started having severe abdominal pain before giving birth. Flagler County Sheriff Rick Staley said at a press conference on March 9 that he does not necessarily believe she did not know she was pregnant.
“We personally believe she knew she was pregnant based on some of the evidence we have between text messages,” Staly said, adding that the sheriff’s office is still investigating.
Staly said the investigation indicates that Demegillo left the baby girl in the toilet while she cleaned up blood in the bathroom with paper and hand towels and remained in the bathroom until the baby was dead.
“She did tell us that she was hoping that the baby would hurry up and die,” he said, adding that the case is one of the saddest he has seen in his 51-year career.
Staly said the medical examiner confirmed that the child’s preliminary cause of death is drowning, according to the report. The baby also had an abrasion on her head, which investigators believe is from falling into the toilet during birth.
The sheriff’s office said Demegillo, reportedly a college student, then allegedly hid the baby in a duffle bag in a closet and returned later the same day to bury the baby in a shallow grave in her backyard.
If further evidence in the case indicates a potential homicide, Staly said the state attorney’s office would have to escalate the charge.
The sheriff’s office is still investigating Demegillo’s digital footprint to see if she accessed information about birth or disposing of a dead body, according to the report.
Florida has a Safe Haven Law that allows parents to legally and safely surrender newborns up to 30 days old to hospitals, fire and police stations, EMS providers, or anonymously to Safe Haven Baby Boxes. Palm Coast has a Safe Haven Baby Box at Fire Station 25 that opened in September of last year.
Katherine Hamilton is a political reporter for Breitbart News. You can follow her on X @thekat_hamilton.
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