New DNA Tests Link Woman To 1986 Baby Killing

[Satanica]

[....]
Janita Philips, 62, of Lake Mary, Florida, turned herself in to Greenwich police and was detained on $50,000 bail pending a court hearing Friday, police said. Police said Philips was the mother of the child. It was not immediately clear if she had a lawyer who could respond to the allegations.

Image Credit

“We are grateful that justice is finally being obtained for this infant child of our community,” Deputy Police Chief Robert Berry said in a statement. “The investigation of his tragic death has taken many long years, but he has always been remembered and we hope this conclusion will bring him peace and recognition.”

The infant boy was found dead in a garbage truck that had emptied a dumpster at an apartment complex in Greenwich on May 16, 1986. The chief medical examiner’s office determined the baby was strangled and ruled his death a homicide. The boy was born alive and killed soon after birth, officials said.

Police said they found items soaked with blood and other evidence at the crime scene, and they interviewed residents of the apartment building. But nothing positively identified the killer.

Greenwich police said they used newly available DNA testing last year that linked evidence found at the crime scene to the boy’s mother. Detectives investigated further and determined Philips was his mother, which was confirmed through additional DNA testing, police said.
[....]
In September, Greenwich detectives went to Florida and interviewed Philips with help from the Seminole County Sheriff’s Office.

Philips admitted during the interview and in a written statement that she was the child’s mother and caused his death, police said. Detectives obtained an arrest warrant for her Wednesday.

Police: New DNA tests link woman to 1986 baby killing

A woman who lived a seemingly quiet, normal life with her family in Florida for three decades was charged with murder Friday in connection with the 1986 killing of her infant son in Connecticut, according to police and her lawyer.

apnews.com

 

[Sejanus]

Damn that is one cold, cold muther.

 

[Freyja]

I wonder what she has done with herself for 35 years after the fact?

 

[Mountaineer95]

Man, “SCIENCE!” has been on FIRE lately, especially with these murdered newborn cases. It’s arguably the best way that we’re utilizing genetic genealogy...as in, while it’s great that so many murders/rapes of adult victims are being solved, the murder of a baby...a completely innocent and completely defenceless, tiny human, is evil beyond words IMO. And there are surprisingly a LOT of unsolved cases of discarded newborns (peruse Doe Network and you’ll see just a fraction of them).

I think it’s worth saying that there might be cases of such murdered and unidentified babies where the mother either isn’t the killer, or was forced to go along with the killing (ie a juvenile whose pregnancy was the result of sexual abuse and the father forced the killing...while unlikely, it’s still possible). But even in those cases, identifying the mother via DNA still helps solve the crime and maybe even leads to murder charges against the father.

Those are rarities...the majority of these unidentified dead babies were likely killed by their mothers. And there must be MANY murderous “mothers” who thought they got away with the crime but are now looking over their shoulders EVERY DAY wondering if today is the day they are arrested. Good.

 

[psychmama]

My long ass day is just about as long as her long ass face !!! Damn those brows like the St Louie Arc!!!

 

[Symmachus]

Cruel. I wonder if she had become a mother in the 35 years since. That baby boy deserved a chance, and she snuffed that away from him. That's one of the worst forms of cowardice possible.

 

[Ramona the brave]

I wonder what she has done with herself for 35 years after the fact?

From the article

Phillips moved to Florida shortly after the baby’s death, police said. She lives with her husband and has two children and a stepchild who are all adults, Urso said. He said she has been working in the insurance industry and “just living a completely quiet, normal life.”

Phillips told police she hid the pregnancy from her husband and other relatives after he said he did not want a second child, the affidavit says. Police said her husband did not know about the baby’s death and had no involvement.

Pretty weird. Apartment she already had a child at the time AND ended up having a second child anyway!! I kinda have to wonder what her relationship with her husband is like. Obviously something has gone wrong here.
[automerge]1637475369[/automerge]

My long ass day is just about as long as her long ass face !!! Damn those brows like the St Louie Arc!!!

Hey, she looks pretty damn good for 62, even if she is a murderer

 

[ronda2711]

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[Mountaineer95]

“Phillips moved to Florida shortly after the baby’s death, police said. She lives with her husband and has two children and a stepchild who are all adults, Urso said. He said she has been working in the insurance industry and “just living a completely quiet, normal life.”

How does one live a “quiet and normal life” knowing that they’ve KILLED a defenceless baby that SHE created and SHE gave birth to? She deserves NO PITY and NO “UNDERSTANDING” in this crime. It doesn’t matter what she claims to have done AFTER she murdered this baby; what does matter is what she DID do at the time of that baby’s birth.

Women don’t get to choose which of their babies are valuable and worthy of life. You don’t get to “dispose of” the offspring that is not of your liking; any child you conceive is YOUR CHILD. you hate the dad??? Well fine. Spew your hate. But you have NO RIGHT to kill that child just because you regret your choice of sperm donor.

 

[Babs]

"Phillips told police she hid the pregnancy from her husband and other relatives after he said he did not want a second child, the affidavit says. Police said her husband did not know about the baby’s death and had no involvement."

Yeah, right, he knew nothing about her being pregnant and then getting rid of the baby. I call bullshit on that.

 

[Sugar Cookie]

A woman who killed her infant son in 1986 in Connecticut and went on to live a seemingly quiet, normal life with her family in Florida for three decades was sentenced Tuesday to five years of probation.

Janita Phillips, 65, of Lake Mary, Florida, was charged with murder in 2021, after police said new DNA testing linked her to the crime. She pleaded guilty to a lesser manslaughter charge in April.

The probation sentence was unusual in a child homicide case, but warranted because a peer-reviewed psychological assessment concluded Phillips experienced “extreme emotional distress” at the time of the killing, both the prosecutor and defense lawyer said. Judge Gary White in Stamford, Connecticut, called it a case deserving mercy.

When Phillips killed the infant, she and her husband had just moved into an apartment in Greenwich, Connecticut, with their eldest child after being homeless and her husband had told her he didn't want another baby, her lawyer, Stephen DeLeo, said. The couple, who remain together and have been married for 42 years, were stressed about money and their ability to feed their family, DeLeo said.


Phillips told police she hid the pregnancy from her husband and other relatives, an arrest warrant said. Police said her husband did not know about the baby’s death and had no involvement.

Phillips and her husband have three children who are now adults. One of their sons is disabled and resides at an assistant living facility, while her husband has medical problems and she takes care of him, DeLeo said in an interview.

“Incarcerating her would serve no purpose at this time,” DeLeo said, adding that this case was Phillips' only brush with the law in her life. He also said she lost her insurance industry job because of the case.

Phillips cried during the sentencing hearing and said she had a “deep sense of regret.” She also said she took full responsibility, DeLeo said. Under her sentence, if she violates probation she could face up to 20 years in prison.

The newborn child, named Baby John by police, was found dead in a garbage truck on May 16, 1986, after workers had emptied a dumpster at the apartment building in Greenwich where Phillips lived, authorities said. The chief medical examiner’s office determined the baby was strangled shortly after being born and ruled his death a homicide.

MSN

 

[Kitsune Faye]

I don’t buy that the husband didn’t know. He knew, and ordered her to get rid of the child. She did what her husband ordered her to do, like all women of her generation.