Latest / Crime Stories with Nancy Grace / Sorority girl’s baby found dead in trash bag with mac-n-cheese box beside sorority house

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Sorority girl’s baby found dead in trash bag with mac-n-cheese box beside sorority house · Crime Stories with Nancy Grace

0:04
Speaker 1: A sorority at Muskingham University, the Delta Gamma Theta sorority
0:11
Speaker 1: house they're in New Conquered sorority sisters find a very
0:17
Speaker 1: bloody bathroom. There is a sorority sister that they think
0:20
Speaker 1: has been pregnant. They can't figure out what happened, and
0:24
Speaker 1: obviously she's not saying anything, so they dare each other
0:29
Speaker 1: to go look and the trash can okay, And then
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Speaker 1: one of them finds a trash bag and in that
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Speaker 1: plastic trash bag on the side of the Delta Gamma
0:41
Speaker 1: Theta house at Muskingham University in New Conquered, Ohio, is
0:47
Speaker 1: a box of mac and cheese, an empty bag of Dorito's,
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Speaker 1: and a dead baby girl. I mean, it's a grace
1:00
Speaker 1: is Crime Stories Crime Stories with Nancy Grace. Sheriff's investigators
1:18
Speaker 1: say they got a call from university police just after
1:21
Speaker 1: nine Wednesday night reporting the discovery of the body of
1:24
Speaker 1: a newborn outside this sorority house on Lakeside Drive. The
1:28
Speaker 1: Sheriff's office says it's a difficult case to investigate. You
1:33
Speaker 1: always have a soft spot in your heart for babies
1:35
Speaker 1: and children, and you never want to see anybody get
1:38
Speaker 1: through this. Investigators say if the autopsy shows the baby
1:43
Speaker 1: found here was stillborn, the mother could still face criminal
1:46
Speaker 1: charges for discarding the body. Ohio's safe Haven law allows
1:52
Speaker 1: either birth parents to surrender a baby within thirty days
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Speaker 1: of birth to any emergency room, law enforcement officer, or firefighter.
2:01
Speaker 1: No questions asked. Those are our friends, wb NSCBS ten TV.
2:06
Speaker 1: That was Marine Kocot speaking a baby found in the
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Speaker 1: trash outside a sorority house. Joining me an all star panel,
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Speaker 1: Kathleen Murphy, doctor Michelle Dupre, Karen Stark, and Levi Page.
2:23
Speaker 1: I'm Nancy Grace, this is Crime Stories. Thank you for
2:27
Speaker 1: being with us. But what do we know? What do
2:30
Speaker 1: we know about the baby? What do we know about
2:33
Speaker 1: the evidence there at the crime scene? Straight out to
2:37
Speaker 1: Levi Page, Crime online dot Com investigative reporter, what can
2:41
Speaker 1: you tell me about the initial evidence in the case. So, Nancy,
2:46
Speaker 1: it's April twenty second, twenty and fifteen, and we're talking
2:51
Speaker 1: about the sorority house, the Delta gammatheta sorority in Muskingham,
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Speaker 1: Ohio at the Universe Versity. They're in New Concord. They
3:02
Speaker 1: found a trash bag, Nancy, they cut open the trash bag,
3:08
Speaker 1: and they found a box of mac and cheese doritos,
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Speaker 1: and then they found a foot, a human foot, and
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Speaker 1: they called nine to one one. Wait a minute, why
3:20
Speaker 1: were people digging through the trash anyway, Levi? Because the home,
3:25
Speaker 1: the bathroom there in the sorority home, was covered in
3:28
Speaker 1: blood and there was a sorority sister there that they
3:32
Speaker 1: suspected was pregnant. And they were talking and there to
3:37
Speaker 1: each other, the sorority sisters. They were saying, do you
3:39
Speaker 1: think that she gave birth? What's going on with her?
3:43
Speaker 1: She's acting strange. There's blood all over the bathroom. And
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Speaker 1: wait a minute. So the initial investigators were a bunch
3:50
Speaker 1: of sorority girls from Delta Gamma Theta sorority. So they
3:56
Speaker 1: see blood in the bathroom, they suspect that one of
4:00
Speaker 1: their strity sisters has been pregnant, so they go search
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Speaker 1: a trash can. Am I understanding this And they're daring
4:06
Speaker 1: each other, Nancy. They're saying, no, you go look, no,
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Speaker 1: you go look, And finally one of them did and
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Speaker 1: they went through this trash can out in the backyard
4:17
Speaker 1: and they discovered a foot, a little tiny foot. They
4:21
Speaker 1: freaked out and called nine one, right, So there was
4:25
Speaker 1: just a foot or they saw the foot attached to
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Speaker 1: the baby's body. Attached to the baby's body. Oh my stars,
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Speaker 1: that was the first thing that this twenty year something,
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Speaker 1: your old girl saw when she was going through trash.
4:38
Speaker 1: Can imagine putting yourself in that situation and seeing a
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Speaker 1: little small foot attached to a little body in a
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Speaker 1: bloody trash bag. So let me understand this scenario to
4:51
Speaker 1: doctor Karen Stark, renowned psychologists joining us from New York.
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Speaker 1: You can find her at Karen Stark dot com. Just
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Speaker 1: those three items, there's three things, not really items. Speaks
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Speaker 1: to me empty mac and cheese, empty bag of doritos,
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Speaker 1: and a baby's dead body. That is very disturbing. Yeah,
5:14
Speaker 1: because what it tells you, Nancy, is that the baby
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Speaker 1: was not more significant than the empty bag of doritos
5:21
Speaker 1: or mac and cheese. That the baby was just tossed
5:25
Speaker 1: as though the baby could have been food or an
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Speaker 1: item of clothing. And that fits with the idea that
5:34
Speaker 1: somebody would take a newborn and put them in a
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Speaker 1: plastic bag with these items and disregard the fact that
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Speaker 1: this was a baby, a brand new baby, you know.
5:45
Speaker 1: Durns dark, I am in no way minimizing what the
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Speaker 1: killer did. I've got to first find out if the
5:54
Speaker 1: baby was still born or alive. But if the baby
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Speaker 1: belongs to a eight sisters, say a freshman in college,
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Speaker 1: I mean, for all I know, as you just turned eighteen,
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Speaker 1: what does that go to the mindset of the mother?
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Speaker 1: It says that the person that carried this baby was
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Speaker 1: somebody who had not attached to the baby, didn't want
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Speaker 1: the baby, and was then extreme denial, not able to
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Speaker 1: really consciously say to themselves, I am pregnant in having
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Speaker 1: this baby, maybe occasionally aware of it and then suppressing
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Speaker 1: it again because they can deal with the impact of
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Speaker 1: the fact that they're pregnant, and it's not uncommon. Take
6:42
Speaker 1: a listen to our friends at WBNSCBS ten TV reporter
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Speaker 1: Brian summer Ball. Twenty year old mother Emily Weaver charged
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Speaker 1: with the murder of her baby not even one day old.
6:53
Speaker 1: Of the child was born less than a day just
7:03
Speaker 1: hours after the body was found. Muskingham County Prosecutor Michael
7:09
Speaker 1: Haddocks says the baby was born alive before being placed
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Speaker 1: in a trash bag, where the child died of asphyxiation.
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Speaker 1: Now Weaver charged with aggravated murder, abuse of a corpse,
7:20
Speaker 1: and two counts of tampering with evidence she concealed or
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Speaker 1: removed blood and orplasenta she removed or concealed the body
7:31
Speaker 1: of the baby. Haddocks would not talk specifics on Weaver
7:35
Speaker 1: if she is working with law enforcement or if she
7:38
Speaker 1: gave a reason. He did say he'd like to stress
7:41
Speaker 1: the significance of the safe Harbor law allowing mothers to
7:44
Speaker 1: drop off newborns to hospitals or law enforcement agencies. What
7:49
Speaker 1: do we know, Leavipage climb online dot Com investigative reporter.
7:53
Speaker 1: What makes authorities believe the baby was born alive? Because
7:58
Speaker 1: of that the child died of asphyxiation? Nancy. It was suffocated.
8:04
Speaker 1: This little baby was suffocated, joining me, Doctor Michelle Dupree,
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Speaker 1: South Carolina medical examiner, author of Homicide Investigation Field Guide,
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Speaker 1: Doctor Dupree, how can you tell if a baby was
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Speaker 1: stillborn if it just, for instance, and I don't think
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Speaker 1: this is what happened, died of sids or if it
8:25
Speaker 1: was asphyxiated, Well, Nancy, that's exactly why we do autopsies,
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Speaker 1: even babies and infants, and what we would look at
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Speaker 1: is under the microscope, we would take small sections of
8:36
Speaker 1: the infants lungs and we can tell by looking at
8:40
Speaker 1: them under a microscope if the lung has ever had
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Speaker 1: air in it. If the baby's lungs has been filled
8:46
Speaker 1: with air, then the baby was born alive and took
8:48
Speaker 1: a breath. Otherwise the baby may have been stillborn. So
8:52
Speaker 1: it's just that simple look at its lungs. And when
8:55
Speaker 1: you say you can look at the lungs and tell
8:57
Speaker 1: the baby has breathed air, what do you see, I'm
9:00
Speaker 1: just curious. Well, we actually see the architecture of the
9:04
Speaker 1: lung There're things called alva olive that hold air on
9:08
Speaker 1: their sacks in the lung tissue itself. When the baby
9:13
Speaker 1: is inside the womb and before taking a breath, those
9:16
Speaker 1: facts are collapsed and they're not inflated. When the baby
9:20
Speaker 1: is born takes the first breath, those facts then become
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Speaker 1: air filled and you can see that under the microscope
9:26
Speaker 1: that they have at least at some point become inflated.
9:30
Speaker 1: Correct crime stories with Nancy Grace. Sheriff's investigators say they
9:48
Speaker 1: got a call from University police just after nine Wednesday
9:52
Speaker 1: night reporting the discovery of the body of a newborn
9:55
Speaker 1: outside this sorority house on Lakeside Drive. The Sheriff's office
10:00
Speaker 1: says it's a difficult case to investigate. You always have
10:03
Speaker 1: a soft spot in your heart for babies and children,
10:06
Speaker 1: and you never want to see anybody go through this.
10:09
Speaker 1: Investigators say if the autopsy shows the baby found here
10:14
Speaker 1: was stillborn, the mother could still face criminal charges for
10:18
Speaker 1: discarding the body. Ohio's safe Haven law allows either birth
10:23
Speaker 1: parent to surrender a baby within thirty days of birth
10:26
Speaker 1: to any emergency room, law enforcement officer, or firefighter. No
10:31
Speaker 1: questions asked, those are our friends, WBNSCBS, ten TV. That
10:36
Speaker 1: was Marine Cocote speaking to leave Page Crime online dot
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Speaker 1: com investigative reporter. Is it true that Emily Weaver stated
10:46
Speaker 1: the baby actually moved? Yes. In an interview that she
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Speaker 1: gave with police, she said that she cut her umbilical
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Speaker 1: cord with a knife and then placed her newborn, who
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Speaker 1: she said was moving, and she admitted it was alive,
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Speaker 1: in a trash bag. Take a listen to what we
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Speaker 1: learn from Emily Weaver herself. Twenty one year old Emily Weaver.
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Speaker 1: Prosecutors say she gave birth in her sorority house at
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Speaker 1: Muskingham University last year, then put the baby in a
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Speaker 1: trash bag and left it outside. We were testified she
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Speaker 1: thought the baby was already dead. She could face life
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Speaker 1: in prison. Our friends at ABC six Columbus, I want
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Speaker 1: you to hear this, head down and handcuffed stable versus
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Speaker 1: Emily Ella Weaver. Emily Weaver appeared for the first time
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Speaker 1: before judge to fight accusations that could put her in
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Speaker 1: prison for life leave us. Though Weaver's attorney spoke in
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Speaker 1: front of a packed courtroom, he did not return NBC
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Speaker 1: for his request for an interview to share Weaver's side
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Speaker 1: of the story. Wednesday, his client was arraigned on four
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Speaker 1: counts surrounding the death of her newborn daughter last spring.
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Speaker 1: The Muskham County Corner says the child only lived for
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Speaker 1: a few hours before dying from asphyxiation. Her body was
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Speaker 1: found in a plastic bag outside Weaver's sorority house. Prosecutors
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Speaker 1: say she acted alone, but we'll not go into detail
12:24
Speaker 1: about who else knew she was pregnant. You're hearing our
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Speaker 1: friends at NBC four that was Columbus reporter Liz Adiola.
12:33
Speaker 1: It's way too much to take in. I'm not understanding
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Speaker 1: the facts as we know them leave ipage Crime Online
12:41
Speaker 1: dot Com investigative reporter. What can you tell me about
12:45
Speaker 1: texts that Emily Weaver sent before the baby was found dead?
12:53
Speaker 1: She sent text Nancy to a boyfriend of hers from
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Speaker 1: her high school days, and in the text she says,
13:01
Speaker 1: I got rid of it and he said, how do
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Speaker 1: you know? And she says it's been taken care of,
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Speaker 1: talking about her pregnancy. Well, that brings into mind why
13:14
Speaker 1: the boyfriend wasn't charged. Is the boyfriend or the father
13:19
Speaker 1: of the baby, Charles Leafy Patron just the mother? Just
13:21
Speaker 1: the mother and Nancy. DNA tests were later done on
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Speaker 1: that high school boyfriend and it was ruled out he
13:28
Speaker 1: was not the father of that child. Well, he may
13:31
Speaker 1: not be the father of the child, but if he
13:33
Speaker 1: was part of the planning to kill the baby, that
13:37
Speaker 1: makes him an accomplice to murder. I don't know if
13:40
Speaker 1: there was enough evidence to prove that he has not
13:42
Speaker 1: been charged, and as certainly if he was, would claim
13:45
Speaker 1: not guilty with me. Kathleen Murphy family lawyer who has
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Speaker 1: literally seen at all. Kathleen Murphy, what do you make
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Speaker 1: of the fact that only the mom was prosecuted. I
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Speaker 1: think they don't have the evidence to prosecute anybody else, Nancy,
14:02
Speaker 1: and I think that she was also telling different people
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Speaker 1: that she had this baby, not just the boyfriend, but
14:11
Speaker 1: another man she was having sex with knew about the baby.
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Speaker 1: Neither one of them were with her on a daily
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Speaker 1: basis or a regular basis, or involved in her day
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Speaker 1: to day life during the pregnancy. We are talking about
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Speaker 1: the case of Emily Weaver, who was then a student
14:31
Speaker 1: at university, a sorority member there at Delta Gamma Theta.
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Speaker 1: When a baby is found outside in a trash can.
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Speaker 1: The house manager said she asked Emily if she was pregnant,
14:43
Speaker 1: and Emily told her she was not. We also know
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Speaker 1: that later Emily says she quote tricked herself into believing
14:52
Speaker 1: the birth would never happen. What does that mean to
14:54
Speaker 1: doctor Karen Start, a New York psychologist. That's what we
14:57
Speaker 1: were talking about, what I mentioned to you earlier, Nancy.
15:01
Speaker 1: Where the person is in denial, so it's not really
15:05
Speaker 1: in their consciousness. Sometimes they realize that pregnant, but they're
15:09
Speaker 1: able to suppress it and tell themselves this isn't really
15:12
Speaker 1: happening to me, and they don't attach with the baby.
15:17
Speaker 1: They don't admit that they're pregnant. They conceal it and
15:22
Speaker 1: they've convinced It's like they've tricked their mind into believing
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Speaker 1: this is not something that's real. So can you do that?
15:29
Speaker 1: Can you trick yourself into believing it's not real? Yes,
15:33
Speaker 1: that there are too many instances where this has occurred
15:36
Speaker 1: and you see it happening over and over again. Not
15:39
Speaker 1: that they're innocent, but they can deal with the fact,
15:43
Speaker 1: the shame, the embarrassment, the idea that what can they
15:49
Speaker 1: do about the baby? Family friends, They just they're lost
15:55
Speaker 1: and they don't want the baby and don't know how
15:59
Speaker 1: to handle the city situation, and so they tell themselves.
16:03
Speaker 1: It's kind of like Scarlett O'Hara saying, you know, I'll
16:06
Speaker 1: think about it tomorrow. They say, this isn't real, This
16:09
Speaker 1: isn't really happening to me now. Emily said that she
16:14
Speaker 1: had confided in her boyfriend, but that he quote wanted
16:18
Speaker 1: no part in it, which would probably rule him out
16:21
Speaker 1: as being an accomplished She does also say that they
16:26
Speaker 1: drove to an abortion clinic, but on their way were
16:28
Speaker 1: turned around by Highway of Control because the winter storm
16:31
Speaker 1: was coming, so she did know that there were alternatives. Also,
16:36
Speaker 1: she had been concealing her tummy and baggy clothes, including
16:40
Speaker 1: t shirts and hoodies. Long story short, she knew enough
16:47
Speaker 1: to try to cover up the pregnancy. I'm trying to
16:52
Speaker 1: figure out how the prosecutor managed to prove that the
16:57
Speaker 1: baby had once been alive and breathed. According to our
17:01
Speaker 1: guest doctor Michelle Dupree, they could very simply look at
17:06
Speaker 1: what's called the Alvoli sacks inside the lungs that expand
17:12
Speaker 1: once breasts have been taken. I'm very curious about what
17:17
Speaker 1: happened at trial. I know this much. Take a listen
17:22
Speaker 1: to our friendly sheep's at Inside Edition. A former college
17:25
Speaker 1: student who prosecutors say gave birth in her sorority house
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Speaker 1: before leaving the baby to die in a trash can
17:33
Speaker 1: has been sentenced to life in prison without the possibility
17:36
Speaker 1: of parole. Emily Weaver, police say, had the baby girl
17:40
Speaker 1: in the bathroom at Muskingham University in Ohio back in
17:44
Speaker 1: April twenty fifteen, then stuffed her in a trash bag outside.
17:49
Speaker 1: A jury found Weaver guilty of murder in May. During sentencing,
17:53
Speaker 1: the twenty one year old told the court quote, I
17:56
Speaker 1: stand before you a broken down woman, asked for forgiveness
18:01
Speaker 1: and mercy. Words cannot express how sorry I am to
18:04
Speaker 1: my beautiful daughter addison and quote, a judge told the court,
18:09
Speaker 1: and he didn't believe she was remorseful, according to the
18:12
Speaker 1: Zaneville Times record, pointing to evidence in the case from
18:15
Speaker 1: a text message that read quote taken care of time.
18:32
Speaker 1: Stories with Nancy Grace, a former college student who prosecutors
18:39
Speaker 1: say gave birth in her sorority house before leaving the
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Speaker 1: baby to die in a trash can, has been sentenced
18:46
Speaker 1: to life in prison without the possibility of parole. Emily Weaver.
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Speaker 1: Police had the baby girl in the bathroom at Muskingham
18:54
Speaker 1: University in Ohio back in April twenty fifteen, then stuffed
18:59
Speaker 1: her in a trash bag outside. A jury found Weaver
19:03
Speaker 1: guilty of murder in May. During sentencing, the twenty one
19:07
Speaker 1: year old told the court quote, I stand before you
19:10
Speaker 1: a broken down woman, asking her forgiveness and mercy. Words
19:15
Speaker 1: cannot express how sorry I am to my beautiful daughter
19:18
Speaker 1: Addison end quote. A judge told the court, and he
19:22
Speaker 1: didn't believe she was remorseful, according to the Zaneville Times,
19:26
Speaker 1: record pointing to evidence in the case from a text
19:29
Speaker 1: message that read, quote taken care of the baby. Quote
19:32
Speaker 1: was taken care of I mean Acy Grace. This is
19:37
Speaker 1: crime story. Now we know Emily Weaver, now twenty five,
19:41
Speaker 1: has been sentenced to life without the possibility of parole.
19:47
Speaker 1: Joining me, Bruce Johnson, owner of ESP Investigations, the Master
19:51
Speaker 1: Sergeant Primacy commander in Chicago Metro retired Bruce Johnson. How
19:57
Speaker 1: would they have proven this case? What evidence would they
20:01
Speaker 1: have been looking for? Well, the first thing is obviously
20:05
Speaker 1: the bathroom. Numerous girls had gone in there, and I
20:10
Speaker 1: believe there was a text or something to get to
20:12
Speaker 1: the effect from the house mom that said, whoever made
20:17
Speaker 1: a mess in the bathroom, you need to get in
20:20
Speaker 1: here and clean it up. So there was obviously blood
20:22
Speaker 1: evidence there. So you have numerous girls in the in
20:28
Speaker 1: the sorority that you know, seeing that scene and then
20:34
Speaker 1: you just trace it backwards the garbage can, the trash
20:36
Speaker 1: bag and work it backwards. But yeah, there were plenty
20:40
Speaker 1: of people to know. It wasn't a question of where
20:43
Speaker 1: the scene was and and who it was. I think
20:47
Speaker 1: they were on it fairly quickly. You know, there are
20:52
Speaker 1: parallels to a recent case of Brooks Skyler Richardson. If
20:56
Speaker 1: you will recall her, she was the year leader pictured
21:02
Speaker 1: very often in her red prom dress, a mermaid dress.
21:06
Speaker 1: Nobody seemed to notice she was pregnant. I mean, I
21:09
Speaker 1: could tell. When you wear a mermaid dress that fits
21:11
Speaker 1: tightly down to the knees, you can pretty much to
21:13
Speaker 1: see everything. In that case, even though we know the
21:18
Speaker 1: baby was killed and buried under the family barbecue pit
21:21
Speaker 1: in the backyard, she broke Skyler Richardson walked free. To you,
21:28
Speaker 1: Kathleen Murphy family lawyer, I don't think that a life
21:33
Speaker 1: sentence is too extreme for Emily Weaver who murdered her
21:37
Speaker 1: defenseless baby by asphyxiation. The injustices that so many other
21:42
Speaker 1: killers walk free, complete injustice, and when that verdict came down,
21:46
Speaker 1: I'm shocked. But in going through the records and looking
21:51
Speaker 1: at the decision that was made by the jury, the
21:54
Speaker 1: jury said that there was simply not evidence that the
21:58
Speaker 1: child was born alive, which is the difference between Skylar
22:03
Speaker 1: brook Skylar Richardson and Emily Weaver. Emily Weaver came straight
22:08
Speaker 1: out and said my child was alive. Brook Skylar Richardson
22:14
Speaker 1: did not confirm that this child was alive and in
22:18
Speaker 1: fact argued that it was stillborn. So you think that's
22:21
Speaker 1: the big difference in this case as it compares to
22:25
Speaker 1: Brook Skylar Richardson, Yes, I do to you. Levi Page
22:30
Speaker 1: Crime Online dot Com investigated reporter Way in how come
22:33
Speaker 1: Brook Skylar Richardson walks free and Emily Weaver gets life
22:36
Speaker 1: without parole. So Brook Richardson Nancy it was two months
22:42
Speaker 1: after she gave birth that the baby skeletal remains were
22:46
Speaker 1: found in a shallow grave and placed on top of
22:49
Speaker 1: that was a flower that she had put on top
22:53
Speaker 1: of the grave. And Nancy in that case, they said
22:58
Speaker 1: that it was a stillbirth and that she did not
23:01
Speaker 1: intentionally murder her child like the defendant in the case
23:05
Speaker 1: that we're talking about. He said it was a still birth.
23:08
Speaker 1: That's what she had claimed, and that is what her
23:11
Speaker 1: defense argued. They had an expert, a forensic expert that
23:15
Speaker 1: argued for her and testified on her behalf at trial.
23:19
Speaker 1: Char senior producer Jackie Howard Jackie wih in Nancy. One
23:22
Speaker 1: of the big issues in the case of Scholar Richardson
23:25
Speaker 1: was whether or not her newborn was burned alive versus
23:30
Speaker 1: being stillborn, as Skyler told police. Scholar Richardson's attorneys claimed
23:37
Speaker 1: Richardson never burned the baby, blasting a forensic anthropologist who
23:42
Speaker 1: told the prosecution that the baby had been burned. When
23:46
Speaker 1: inspecting the rib bones of forensic anthropologists noticed that the
23:50
Speaker 1: ends of the bones were darker than the rest, and
23:52
Speaker 1: police were told that Richardson had burned the baby. Now,
23:56
Speaker 1: the forensic pathologist who performed the autopsy testified there was
24:00
Speaker 1: no evidence of burning. Richardson did tell police that as
24:05
Speaker 1: she buried the baby, tried to set the baby on
24:08
Speaker 1: fire again, that she believed that the baby was stillborn
24:12
Speaker 1: and not alive. The detective wrote in his report that
24:15
Speaker 1: Richardson said she let her baby's foot on fire with
24:18
Speaker 1: a lighter. The flames reached the baby's chest before Richardson
24:22
Speaker 1: put them out. This is what Richardson told police in
24:25
Speaker 1: her second interview. In the end, Skyler, Richardson was found
24:29
Speaker 1: not guilty of murdering her New Moore baby. You know
24:32
Speaker 1: very often when hear stories like Emily Weavers, but usually
24:37
Speaker 1: the cases do not end with sentences of life without
24:41
Speaker 1: parole LEVI page. What made this judge give Weaver Elwop
24:47
Speaker 1: life without parole Well. He claimed that she had engaged
24:51
Speaker 1: in bad behaviors while she was pregnant. She drank alcohol,
24:56
Speaker 1: She even signed up and played in a dodgeball tournament
24:59
Speaker 1: Nancy while she was pregnant, and in the letter that
25:04
Speaker 1: she was reading to the court on the day that
25:07
Speaker 1: she was being sentenced, where she was begging for mercy,
25:10
Speaker 1: the judge scolded her and said it was I, I me, me, me,
25:15
Speaker 1: and not anything about the baby that was killed. Crime
25:32
Speaker 1: stories with Nancy Grace, prosecutors say twenty year old Emily
25:42
Speaker 1: Weaver was a college sophomore who became a mom, and
25:46
Speaker 1: now she's accused of killing her child only hours after birth,
25:51
Speaker 1: which I was found in a plastic bag outside of
25:55
Speaker 1: a sorority house. Muskingham Kelly Prosecutor Michael Haddocks says the
26:00
Speaker 1: newborn girl died of asphyxiation and says the baby was
26:04
Speaker 1: born inside the Delta Gamma Theta house at Muskingham University
26:08
Speaker 1: in April, but would not say who else may have
26:12
Speaker 1: known about it. There were other people that lived in
26:14
Speaker 1: the house, but you're not looking at charges against anyone
26:18
Speaker 1: else at this point. We are not Haddocks says DNA
26:22
Speaker 1: evidence confirmed the baby belonged to Weaver. Sheriff Matt Lutz
26:26
Speaker 1: acknowledged the case was emotional. We all wanted to make
26:30
Speaker 1: sure that we had all the facts of circumstances to
26:33
Speaker 1: present to mister Haddocks, to make sure that we were
26:36
Speaker 1: treating everybody fairly. You're hearing our friends at ABC six
26:39
Speaker 1: That's News reporter Mike McCarthy, along with the prosecutor Michael Haddocks.
26:45
Speaker 1: Twenty year old Emily Weaver gives birth to a baby,
26:48
Speaker 1: girl Addison, inside the sorority house in the library bathroom,
26:53
Speaker 1: puts the baby in a garbage bag, leaves the baby
26:57
Speaker 1: and an outside trash can outside this already house. The
27:01
Speaker 1: prosecutor says, others in the house are not suspected of
27:05
Speaker 1: knowing about the baby. Although they all clearly you were
27:09
Speaker 1: suspicious and had been talking about it for weeks before
27:14
Speaker 1: the baby was killed, that does not mean they are
27:17
Speaker 1: part of the death. To Bruce Johnson, owner ISP Investigations, Bruce,
27:24
Speaker 1: very often we see stories about babies being killed by moms.
27:31
Speaker 1: We don't normally see life without the possibility of parole.
27:34
Speaker 1: Why do you think this case is different? Well, I
27:36
Speaker 1: don't think it's different. But I just think that the
27:40
Speaker 1: case is that she has been showing no remorse. You
27:45
Speaker 1: had questions about did she know about the pregnancy or
27:49
Speaker 1: was she trying to suppress it. As far as the girlfriends,
27:55
Speaker 1: everybody that asked her if she was pregnant, you know,
27:57
Speaker 1: there was another pregnant. Once she said no, she didn't
28:00
Speaker 1: want to ask her again because she one didn't want
28:01
Speaker 1: to say that she's getting fat. So you have all these,
28:04
Speaker 1: you know, normal conversations with girls in a sorority, and
28:09
Speaker 1: you know, I don't think any of them knew, you know,
28:14
Speaker 1: obviously at the day and time that they had suspicions
28:17
Speaker 1: that she was pregnant, but no one could prove it.
28:19
Speaker 1: So once she gave birth that day, I don't think
28:24
Speaker 1: any knew of it and had any evidence from the police.
28:28
Speaker 1: So I don't think any of them should be charged.
28:31
Speaker 1: But yeah, I mean, being out here in Cook County
28:33
Speaker 1: and seeing this with no chance of parole is at
28:38
Speaker 1: a shocker. He really must felt that her no remorse
28:42
Speaker 1: during the trial, which you know we weren't sitting in,
28:46
Speaker 1: he really had to come down on that issue. That
28:48
Speaker 1: had to be the main issue that she was showing
28:50
Speaker 1: normal remorse, and that she knew because the baby moved
28:53
Speaker 1: that it was actually alive, and she could have at
28:56
Speaker 1: that point taken action to save the baby rather than
29:00
Speaker 1: disposing it coldheartedly. So I think those are the factors
29:04
Speaker 1: that led to his decision. Char senior producer Jackie Howard
29:07
Speaker 1: Jackie way In. Prosecutors tried to show during the trial
29:10
Speaker 1: that Weaver never intended to have this child. The prosecutors
29:16
Speaker 1: argued that Weaver smoked pot, played sports, and took labor
29:21
Speaker 1: inducing supplements throughout her pregnancy, hoping she'd have a miscarriage.
29:25
Speaker 1: Part of the evidence that the prosecutors used was eighty
29:30
Speaker 1: peels of black cohosh. It's a supplement that comes in
29:33
Speaker 1: a bottle that has written in big letters on there
29:36
Speaker 1: the warning do not take if pregnant, and Weaver had
29:40
Speaker 1: been taking that within sixteen days of giving birth. So
29:45
Speaker 1: in my mind, to you, Kathleen Murphy, family lawyer joining
29:49
Speaker 1: us out of North Carolina, Kathleen, it sounds like her
29:53
Speaker 1: plan all along was to get rid of the baby
29:55
Speaker 1: hands down, and especially after she set that text to
29:59
Speaker 1: the man the problems taken care of. It was clearly
30:03
Speaker 1: an intentional act to get rid of this child, the
30:07
Speaker 1: problem and be not in denial, Nancy, but just refusing
30:12
Speaker 1: to accept the responsibilities for the situation that she found
30:16
Speaker 1: herself into. Our friends joining us from inside. Addition, a
30:21
Speaker 1: former college student who prosecutors say gave birth in her
30:24
Speaker 1: sorority house before leaving the baby to die in a
30:28
Speaker 1: trash can has been sentenced to life in prison without
30:32
Speaker 1: the possibility of parole. Emily Weaver. Police had the baby
30:36
Speaker 1: girl in the bathroom at Muskingham University in Ohio back
30:40
Speaker 1: in April twenty fifteen, then stuffed her in a trash
30:43
Speaker 1: bag outside. A jury found Weaver guilty of murder in May.
30:49
Speaker 1: During sentencing, the twenty one year old told the court quote,
30:52
Speaker 1: I stand before you a broken down woman asking for
30:56
Speaker 1: forgiveness and mercy. Words cannot express how sorry I am
31:00
Speaker 1: to my beautiful daughter addison and quote, a judge told
31:04
Speaker 1: the court, and he didn't believe she was remorseful, according
31:08
Speaker 1: to the Zeneviille Times record, pointing to evidence in the
31:11
Speaker 1: case from a text message that read quote taken care
31:14
Speaker 1: of so basically, I got rid of it. Me me me,
31:18
Speaker 1: I I I this baby wade six pounds joining me
31:23
Speaker 1: Kathleen Murphy, North Carolina family lawyer. You can find her
31:27
Speaker 1: at inc Domestic law dot com Kathleen Murphy. Again, many
31:33
Speaker 1: people are outraged that she got life without parole. Can
31:38
Speaker 1: you justify the sentence and she's already been denied appeal?
31:42
Speaker 1: What are the chances she will win on another appeal? Well,
31:45
Speaker 1: In fact, Nancy, there was an appeal that she had
31:47
Speaker 1: one in twenty eighteen, so that the issue of neo
31:53
Speaker 1: natal side. I'm not pronouncing that right, but neaside could
31:58
Speaker 1: be brought before the jury so that her sentence could
32:02
Speaker 1: be reevaluated. She lost that appeal where she won that
32:07
Speaker 1: appeal and had a trial, and she lost at trial
32:09
Speaker 1: leveled Nancy, and there's no appeal that's left for her.
32:15
Speaker 1: The expert that testified at her resentencing was clearly put
32:24
Speaker 1: in a box by the prosecutor and found to be
32:27
Speaker 1: extremely biased in her testimony. And the information that was
32:31
Speaker 1: testified too was clearly a biased amount of testimonies from
32:35
Speaker 1: the expert. She's not getting out life without possibility of parole.
32:40
Speaker 1: It was a very very appropriate sentence. This was a
32:43
Speaker 1: six and a half pound baby girl six and a
32:46
Speaker 1: half pounds known to be alive at birth and Appeals
32:49
Speaker 1: Court has upheld the conviction of Emily Weaver, a former
32:53
Speaker 1: Muskingham University student serving a life without parole after being
32:57
Speaker 1: convicted of killing her new born baby Girl Now. She
33:01
Speaker 1: was found guilty by a jury of aggravated murder, abuse
33:06
Speaker 1: of a corpse, two counts tampering with evidence, accused of
33:10
Speaker 1: placing the baby and a garbage can after giving birth,
33:14
Speaker 1: then wrapping in a trash bag and leaving it outside
33:17
Speaker 1: the sorority house on campus. The baby died of asphyxiation,
33:23
Speaker 1: according to preliminary autopsy reports. To doctor Michelle Dupree, how
33:29
Speaker 1: can you look at a body and know the person
33:32
Speaker 1: died of asphyxiation and then too, there are several ways
33:34
Speaker 1: you can do that. You can oftentimes find PATIKII with
33:37
Speaker 1: your small little PenPoint hemorrhages even on the surface of
33:41
Speaker 1: the skin. Depends on how the person the baby was asphyxiated.
33:45
Speaker 1: Was it smothered with a pillow, was it strangled? Those
33:50
Speaker 1: things are going to appear in different parts of the baby.
33:54
Speaker 1: But we look at things like that, guys. We know
33:57
Speaker 1: that The district court judges found that Emily Weaver's other
34:03
Speaker 1: actions were important blatant disregard for law enforcement and the
34:09
Speaker 1: justice system, and her attempt to dispose of the baby,
34:13
Speaker 1: other evidence of the murderer psychological repercussions her behaviors likely
34:19
Speaker 1: had on the campus community. I'm more concerned about the
34:24
Speaker 1: baby itself myself as far as I'm concerned. But also
34:31
Speaker 1: it was argued that because the baby died after being
34:35
Speaker 1: placed in the garbage bag, Weaver was not guilty of
34:39
Speaker 1: abuse to corpse. But if you die of asphyxiation, I
34:44
Speaker 1: don't know, doctor Michelle Duprie. Could the baby have died
34:47
Speaker 1: in the garbage bag, Yes, absolutely, that's possible. Anything that
34:51
Speaker 1: would cut of the air supply could certainly have confienced
34:54
Speaker 1: six mensions. We also know to Kathleen Murphy family lawyer
35:00
Speaker 1: that in this jurisdiction the life sentence is not anything
35:07
Speaker 1: that the Court of Appeals that they don't have the
35:10
Speaker 1: jurisdiction to review Weaver's life sentence for aggravated murder. They
35:16
Speaker 1: can review other things, but not sentencing because that's set
35:20
Speaker 1: forth by the legislature. That is correct. They did review
35:23
Speaker 1: other matters and she lost that review hearing, and so
35:29
Speaker 1: she is set firmly exactly where she needs to be
35:34
Speaker 1: life in prison without the possibility of parole ever the end,
35:40
Speaker 1: and thank God, because that baby had been absolutely murdered.
35:46
Speaker 1: The case now on appeal again and we wait till
35:49
Speaker 1: justice sun falls. Nancy Grace Crime Story, signing off my
35:54
Speaker 1: friend