What to Know
- A young mother has been arrested after she allegedly abandoned her baby in Port Jervis last year
- Police on Tuesday took 22-year-old Nicole Layman into custody
- The infant, named Sophia Grace Hadden, was not clothed with the exception of the blanket she was wrapped in and died from exposure, police said
A New York mother has been arrested and charged with murder months after her newborn child was found dead in a vacant lot.
Police on Tuesday took 22-year-old Nicole Layman into custody for allegedly leaving the body of a newborn baby girl, who still had her umbilical cord attached, on a street corner in Port Jervis, Orange County.
The baby girl, named Sophia Grace Hadden, was found the night of Nov. 12 last year at the corner of Hornbeck Avenue and Brooklyn Street after a man walking in the area made the grisly and heartbreaking discovery, according to police.
Following an autopsy, authorities alleged that the infant had been born alive and that Layman abandoned the baby in freezing cold temperatures, where the baby died of exposure.
The infant was not clothed with the exception of the blanket she was wrapped in, according to authorities.
"Help is available within Orange County for those who believe they are unable to care for their children. Consigning an infant to die of exposure is unnecessary, illegal, and barbaric," District Attorney David Hoovler said in a statement.
Local
Layman is next scheduled to appear in the City Port Jervis Court on Monday, police said. It wasn't immediately clear whether she had a representative who can speak on her behalf.
If convicted, Layman faces a maximum sentence of 25 years to life in state prison.
