John Jefferson
Inset: Brianna Moore (Hillsborough County State Attorney’s Office). Background: Scene at the University of Tampa where the body of a newborn girl was found (WFLA/YouTube).
Authorities in Florida arrested a 19-year-old woman who allegedly gave birth to a baby in the bathroom of her college dorm room, killed the girl and dumped the body in a trash can.
Brianna Moore is charged with aggravated manslaughter of a child and child neglect with great bodily harm, according to the Hillsborough County State Attorney’s Office. Moore’s roommates at McKay Hall at the University of Tampa called cops on April 27 after they heard a baby crying and saw blood on their bathroom floor. Paramedics checked on Moore who denied being pregnant and blamed the blood on her menstrual cycle.
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But the next day the roommates found a bloody towel inside Moore’s trash can and called cops again. Responding officers unwrapped the towel and found the dead baby inside.
“When Tampa Police interviewed Moore that day, she admitted to delivering the baby in the bathroom and holding the baby tightly to her body until she stopped crying,” prosecutors said.
Moore then confessed to putting the girl in the trash. The Tampa Bay Times obtained an arrest report that stated she told cops post-Miranda that she thought the baby was dead. She reportedly took a shower and cleaned the girl with water and then put her on her bedroom floor before falling asleep for about an hour. After she woke up, the girl still showed no signs of life so she wrapped the newborn in the towel, the affidavit reportedly said. Investigators believe she was in denial about being pregnant.
An autopsy determined she died from asphyxia due to compression of the torso. She had several fractured ribs and hemorrhaging on the lung. The manner of death was homicide.
After obtaining an arrest warrant, cops arrested the defendant in her native Mississippi. She’s awaiting extradition back to Florida. She’s also facing charges of unlawful storage, preservation or transportation of human remains and failure to report death to medical examiner or law enforcement.
“It breaks my heart to know that this baby girl could still be alive today if this woman had alerted authorities that she needed help. Instead, she took actions that directly lead to the death of her newborn baby. This is a difficult and nuanced case to prosecute, and our community must continue to educate women about the many resources available to them in situations like this one. This baby’s death was avoidable,” State Attorney Suzy Lopez said in a statement.
Like many states, Florida has a Safe Haven Law that allows people to drop off unwanted newborns within 30 days at a fire station or hospital, no questions asked. Lopez said it would have been simple for Moore to do so.
“For crying out loud, there’s a fire station across the street from the University of Tampa,” Lopez said, appearing to hold back tears, during a press conference. “Tampa General Hospital is a mere two to three minutes away by car.”
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