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Sugar Cookie

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Ohio authorities arrested a woman after making a break in the 1993 cold case murder of a newborn baby – now, investigators say the suspect has admitted to killing another infant.

On March 29, 1993 police found a newborn baby boy dead in the woods. He had been mauled by animals.

At that time, the child was sent to the Cuyahoga County Coroner’s Office where they confirmed that he had been born alive, but could not determine how he died.

Members of the community came forward and had handmade clothing made for the child’s funeral and burial. He was referred to as “Geauga’s Child” on his gravestone. He was memorialized in the Thompson cemetery and, to this day, community members care for his grave, leaving gifts and flowers.

For 26 years authorities had been following up on all leads in the Geauga’s Child case.

In September 2018, the Geauga County Sheriff’s Office identified distant family members of Geauga’s Child. Detectives compared DNA voluntarily submitted to a database to help identify the mother. Officials started with a 14,000 person family tree and interviewed potential family members across the country and the world before narrowing the search down and tracing the DNA to a local woman.

They then issued a search warrant for Gail Eastwood-Ritchey’s DNA, which ultimately confirmed that the 49-year-old Euclid woman was the baby’s mother.

Ritchey allegedly admitted that she had birthed the child, placed him in a trash bag and dumped him.

Ritchey has been charged with one count aggravated murder and one count of murder.

Ritchey is currently married to the infant’s father and has three adult children.

Officials say Ritchey shows absolutely no remorse and takes no ownership of the infant. For this reason, he will continue to rest in the Thompson cemetery identified as Geauga’s Child.
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Ritchey is currently married to the infant’s father and has three adult children.


Officials say Ritchey shows absolutely no remorse and takes no ownership of the infant. For this reason, he will continue to rest in the Thompson cemetery identified as Geauga’s Child.

Did daddy-o know she was pregnant.
I'm guessing he did and what did he think happened to the baby?


One for sure and she admitted to a second baby she disposed of. I bet her adult children are feeling lucky.
 
A jury trial is scheduled to begin Monday for a mother who is charged with murder in the death of a newborn baby boy found dead in Geauga County in 1993.

Gail Eastwood Ritchey, of Euclid, was arrested in the cold case in 2019.
According to investigators, police found a newborn baby dead in the woods on March 25, 1993.

He had been mauled by animals. The medical examiner believed the baby had been born alive but could not determine how he died.

The baby came to be known as “Geauga’s Child.” The community raised money for a headstone and a funeral. He was buried in the Thomson cemetery.

Investigators say DNA linked Ritchey to the child.

Her neighbors in Euclid were stunned. They described Ritchey as a church-going woman who was active in the Boy Scouts and the PTA at Euclid High School.

According to investigators, following her arrest, Ritchey admitted that she put the child in a trash bag and dumped him. She also said she did the same thing with another child about 2 years prior, investigators told FOX 8.

Investigators never found evidence in the other case.

Ritchey was married to the newborn’s father at the time of her arrest. She has three adult children
Investigators say she has not taken ownership of the baby, so he’s remaining buried as Geauga’s Child.
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Frumpy looking halfwit.
Curious is there is a mental deficiency there.
Wonder how many infants she threw away over the 28 years since this one.

She married the sperm slinger and he never said a word.
He should be facing charges.
 
The jury reached a verdict Monday evening in the trial for a woman charged with dumping her newborn baby in the woods in Geauga County in 1993.

Gail Eastwood Ritchey was found guilty of murder and not guilty of aggravated murder. She was arrested in 2019.
“I’m frankly shocked and surprised at the jury’s verdict,” said defense attorney Steven Bradley. “I certainly respect the jury’s verdict, but the state frankly did not have enough evidence to meet their burden of proof.”

Jurors had to decide whether they believed Ritchey’s defense claim that the baby was stillborn.
Based on the charges, the prosecution had to prove the killing was intentional.

“She made the decision to put her baby in a garbage bag,” the state argued.

According to prosecutors, because Ritchey knew she was pregnant 3 months before the child was born and did nothing to prepare for the birth of a child shows intent.

“She literally treated him like a piece of garbage,” prosecutors said. “Tossed him in the woods…didn’t even bury him.”
“There really is no evidence…no reliable evidence that this was in fact a live birth,” Ritchey’s defense claimed.
Prosecutors argued that the defense couldn’t prove the baby was born alive without a reasonable doubt.

On the stand Saturday, was Montgomery County Coroner Dr. Kent Harshbarger who said he was not able to determine if the child was born alive or dead.

He said coroners look at certain markers when determining live birth, including lung function and expanded alveoli and also food in the stomach.

Other factors, including decomposition, could cause air to fill the lungs without a breath being taken, he said.

He said he can’t determine if the baby was born at full term but that it’s most likely the case because the baby’s weight and other developmental factors were evidence of a full-term pregnancy.
 
I wonder if there was a chance that the baby was possibly not actually fathered by the man she eventually married, maybe she cheated and thought it possible the kid wasn’t his and that was her motivation?
 
The woman who was found guilty of murder in the decades-old case known as "Geauga's Child" has been sentenced to life in prison.
"Your freedom is over," Judge David Ondrey told Gail Eastwood-Ritchey in passing down his sentence. She will be eligible for parole after 15 years served.
“Your wrongful efforts to conceal what happened in February 1993 did you buy 29 years of normal life where you got the chance to get married, raise children and do some good works. But ultimately you gained that time on the back of a helpless infant, whose body you concealed in the woods. Ironically, Geauga’s Child did more for you than you ever did for him probably," Ondrey added.
 
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