A DNA Technique Is Finding Women Who Left Their Babies for Dead (Thanks to Valerie for this one)
Genetic genealogy is identifying the mothers of deceased newborns found abandoned, shedding light on crimes that went unsolved for years. Women now may face lengthy prison sentences for decades-old chapters of their pasts.
In 1993, a 22-year-old woman named Gail Eastwood gave birth alone in a suburb of Cleveland. She later told the police she did not recall seeing the baby move or make any noise. She put the baby in a garbage bag, left the bag in the woods, and never told anyone what had happened, including her boyfriend, whom she married the next year.
Nearly 30 years later, genetic genealogy led the police to her front door, and a jury convicted her of murder in 2022. She is now serving a sentence of 15 years to life.
Her husband, Mark Ritchey, who was the baby’s father, learned about what had happened only when his wife was arrested. He said he was frustrated that the jury at her trial was not allowed to hear evidence about what her mental state had been during the delivery.
“I get what happened is tragic, I’m not removing myself from the responsibility of that,” he said in an interview. “But my wife being in prison is not the answer.”
 |
| Mark Ritchey said he learned only decades later, when his wife was arrested, that she had given birth in 1993. Daniel Lozada for The New York Times |
