Baby found dead in a dumpster near YMCA in 2007. Mother just arrested in California
Mary Anne would have been 14 years old this September, possibly looking forward to starting high school in her South Central Pennsylvania neighborhood.
Her life was instead cut drastically short; she was killed as a newborn and disposed of in a dumpster behind a YMCA in 2007. The moniker “Mary Anne” was given to her because police did not know her real name, if she was given one.
Police investigated for more than a decade trying to determine who killed and discarded the baby until recent DNA evidence led to a breakthrough in the case. The girl’s mother, Tara Brazzle, was charged Friday with criminal homicide, Pennsylvania officials say.
Brazzle was questioned about the murder on July 1 and told police she put the baby in a dumpster, according to the Lancaster County District Attorney’s Office. Officers didn’t arrest Brazzle at the time because investigators were still trying to determine if Brazzle had an accomplice, but she was caught the following day after she had flown to California.
“The death and circumstances of the discovery of Baby Mary Anne had a tremendous impact on this community,” District Attorney Heather Adams said in a statement. “The case was incredibly sad then and incredibly sad now, as those with ties to Baby Mary Anne begin to process and grieve a personal loss about which they are only now learning.”
The investigation began Sept. 24, 2007, when YMCA employees discovered the newborn in the dumpster. The district attorney’s office said the baby “had been wrapped in a blood-stained towel and several plastic bags and placed into a canvas bag along with the placenta and the umbilical cord.”
The baby’s cause of death was ruled as asphyxia, leading to an in-depth investigation into the homicide. Police ruled out 25 woman who tipsters said were pregnant at the time. The case eventually went cold.
In 2016, a new lead investigator in the case helped collect DNA evidence using technology not previously available. The baby’s DNA was uploaded into a public genetic genealogy database in 2018, and police used that to find a connection between the baby and Brazzle, the district attorney said.
Brazzle was interviewed at her home last week in Indiana, where she said she had given birth to the baby.
“Brazzle indicated that she knew she was pregnant, failed to seek any prenatal care for the baby and did not provide any medical care to the baby after giving birth,” according to the district attorney. “According to Brazzle, she placed the baby in the trash dumpster located behind the YMCA several days later.”
Brazzle worked at the YMCA at the time of the 2007 discovery, according to a coworker who found the baby’s body.
”That floored me when I found out who it was,” David Ressler told Lancaster Online of Brazzle’s arrest.
Brazzle, 44, is a mother of three other children, her boyfriend, Anthony Ortiz, told Lancaster Online. Ortiz said his girlfriend was not fleeing to California, but rather traveling there to see him.
She was arrested by the San Jose Police Department as she disembarked the plane last week. She is being held at the Santa Clara Sheriff’s Department with no bail as she awaits extradition to Pennsylvania, the district attorney said.
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