A teenage mother who left her newborn daughter to die in a plastic bag in a New Jersey park on Christmas Eve 1984 remembers her past 40 years later and asks for forgiveness.
Mary Katherine Snyder was 17 years old when she abandoned an unnamed newborn near a stream in a wooded area of upscale Mendham Township. She wrapped her baby in a towel and placed it in a plastic bag with the umbilical cord still attached.
The coroner determined the infant was born alive and the death was ruled a homicide.
The baby girl was baptized by a local priest, Reverend Michael Drury. He was the pastor of St. Joseph’s Church and the town’s police chaplain.
He named her “Mary” and saw her buried in the churchyard. Shocked by the tragedy, police officers raised funds to erect a suitable headstone.
They never forgot Baby Mary. Detectives have been following the case for 40 years, and 80-year-old “Father Mike” holds a service at the baby’s grave every Christmas Eve.
When investigators finally tracked down Snyder in 2023, after cutting-edge DNA testing revealed the identity of the baby’s now-deceased father, she was found in a well-equipped home by a married father of two sons. I was living the life of a baseball mom. A suburb of South Carolina. Her married name was Krumrich.
The 57-year-old pleaded guilty last week to manslaughter and was sentenced to one year in prison, the Morris County Prosecutor’s Office announced. She was first publicly identified by authorities last week.
“She was a young girl [at the time]. I’m very scared, very scared,” Drury told the Post, detailing a recent heartfelt conversation he had with Kramlich.
“I know I did something wrong. I asked God for forgiveness because I know it was wrong,” she told the priest, he recalls.
“Well, he does, and Baby Mary is with him, so Baby Mary is fine,” Drury replied.
Kramlich said she hopes to attend her estranged daughter’s annual service next Christmas Eve.
“As far as I understand, she’s a good mother and a good wife. The mistakes she made will stay with her forever… I think she’s dealing with it,” the pastor said. Ta.
For decades, investigators have “vigorously pursued every lead” to identify the baby, her parents and why she was left to die in the woods, prosecutors said.
Morris County Attorney Robert Carroll said, “This disposition honors generations of law enforcement who have demonstrated a relentless dedication to justice for Baby Mary over the years. It has been formulated,” he said. He said the case was solved through “new forensic DNA technology combined with traditional field police work.”
In April 2023, Morris County prosecutors filed a juvenile delinquency complaint and Krumrich was arrested in South Carolina. On February 28, she pleaded guilty to manslaughter.
The father of Baby Mary, who was 19 at the time, has not been made public. Authorities said the man did not know about the baby and he died in 2009.
Police believe New Jersey’s Safe Haven Infant Protection Act, which allows families to safely, legally and anonymously relinquish infants, was not passed until 2000 and may have helped rescue Baby Mary. He pointed out that there is.
“We want young parents to know that help is available,” Morris County Sheriff James Gannon said at a September news conference announcing the arrest.
