Forty years after she died in the woods of New Jersey on Christmas Eve, leaving her newborn baby behind, Mary Katherine Snyder Krumlich was revealed on social media to be living with her husband and sons in rural South Carolina. It was revealed.
But earlier this month, Krumrich, 57, was sentenced to a year in prison for manslaughter in the death of an infant dubbed “Baby Mary” during a decades-long investigation by Mendham County police. announced the Morris County Prosecutor’s Office.
Mendham Township Police Chief Ross Johnson told Fox News Digital that the girl’s DNA profile was established in 2014 and that “a lot of great police work” solved a decades-old cold case. Told.
Prosecutors said Krumrich, who was just 17 years old, had his umbilical cord intact, wrapped in a plastic bag wrapped in a towel, and two boys playing in a stream found him and called police. Police said the death was ruled a homicide because the coroner determined the girl died before she was placed in the bag.
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Mary Snyder Kramrick, 57, had moved to South Carolina from Mendham Township, New Jersey, when she was arrested on suspicion of manslaughter in the death of her newborn daughter on Christmas Eve 1984. He lived with his family. (Kath Snyder Krumrich/Facebook)
The baby girl’s identity is unknown, but the Rev. Michael Drury of St. Joseph Church baptized her, Johnson told Fox News Digital. Johnson said police officers visit her grave every Christmas Eve for her memorial service.
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“It became part of our annual tradition. We didn’t want Baby Mary to be forgotten,” Johnson said Friday. ”[It was] It’s a very horrible act and really senseless in every sense of the word. We wanted her to be remembered every Christmas Eve. …That’s completely unnecessary. Even in the 80s, we had so many resources in our area. It certainly didn’t have to go down like that. ”
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The Rev. Michael Drury, a Mendham County police chaplain, named the infant Jane Doe “Mary” and baptized her, prosecutors said. A memorial service was held at her grave every Christmas Eve. (Chris Pedota/NorthJersey.com/USA Today Network)
When the child’s DNA profile was established, her case was reopened by the Morris County Cold Case Unit. Johnson said detectives, with the help of a genealogist, searched for a family that lived in the area, had a daughter between the ages of 16 and 19, and matched the girl’s racial and ethnic background.
“There was never any idea that it was just a random person from out of town,” Johnson said. “The location was so specific that it had to be someone in the area.”
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Detectives interviewed dozens of families and followed up numerous tips and theories. Finally, a DNA match was found several years ago to Baby Mary, a local man who died by suicide in 2009 or 2010, Johnson said.
“It is our firm belief that he knew nothing about this matter, which is why his name is not listed anywhere,” Johnson said. She said: “There was no evidence that he had any knowledge that Krumrich was the father of her child, let alone that she was pregnant.
“Had he known, he probably wouldn’t have done that,” he added. “If he had had a child, if that child had not died, things might have been different.”
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They focused on Krumrich, who had moved to the suburbs of Columbia, South Carolina, through his family.
Her Facebook posts show her attending her son’s baseball games and weddings. Later, she posted a photo of her babysitting her grandson.
“I can’t imagine living with something like that. There are consequences.”
She was arrested on April 23 last year and charged as a juvenile due to her age at the time of the crime. Prosecutors said she would have been charged with second-degree manslaughter if she had been convicted as an adult.
Under state law for juvenile defendants, law enforcement could not release her name until her conviction earlier this month. On April 3, Kramlich was sentenced to 364 days in the Morris County Correctional Facility, Johnson said.
It was not immediately clear who Krumrich is representing in her case.
Johnson said he hoped Kramlich would receive a prison sentence and “get some closure.”
“I can’t imagine living with something like that. There are consequences,” he said. “It’s good to see she moved on with her life. [but] She lives with this situation to some degree every day. She’s glad to be able to put an end to this, for her sake as well. In reality, she left her newborn baby in the woods. Because she did that, we felt it was very important to bring it to justice. ”
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Johnson said that even after the case was resolved, “we were left with more questions than answers.”
“I really hope that one day, when she gets out of prison, she will come out with the full story,” Johnson said. “But I don’t think that will ever happen.”
