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A Long Island resident faced arrest earlier this month in connection to the death of her newborn daughter, a tragic event that occurred 33 years ago. Allegedly, she admitted to the crime, revealing she ended the infant’s life and left her in a bag beside a road.
Back on September 27, 1993, a worker from the New York Department of Transportation discovered the baby along the edge of Route 25 in Calverton, according to a report by the Riverhead News-Review. Disturbingly, the infant’s mouth was packed with paper, and her umbilical cord remained intact.
The Suffolk County Medical Examiner’s Office concluded that the cause of death was homicide due to suffocation.
Denise Reischman Merker, now 56, was taken into custody on February 2, facing charges of second-degree murder. She entered a plea of not guilty during her arraignment the next day.
Although Suffolk County Police have not disclosed the exact method used to link Merker to the infant, they did mention that genetic genealogy played a “significant role,” as reported by Newsday.
Police said they linked Merker to the infant, who was known only as Baby Jane Doe, last year, when she was one of nine unidentified infants whose DNA profiles were added to the National Missing and Unidentified Persons Systems database.
Merker allegedly admitted killing the baby during a police interview, telling investigators, “I did it. I did everything.”
She reportedly told them that she put a paper towel into the child’s mouth “because she was crying.”
Merker was remanded to jail without bond and is due in court again on March 2.