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A Florida woman is accused of allowing her newborn to drown after giving birth in a toilet and then later performing in a local theater production on the same day.
Anne Mae Demegillo is said to have placed the infant’s body in a duffel bag inside a closet at her residence before attending classes at Daytona State College, according to Flagler County Sheriff’s Deputy Joe Barile during a Friday press conference.
Demegillo faces charges of aggravated manslaughter of a child and is currently detained at the Flagler County Sheriff’s Office Jail.
Expressing his disbelief, Barile remarked on the woman’s apparent indifference to her tragic actions.
“It’s truly baffling, to be honest. Sometimes, things just defy explanation,” Barile commented.
Police responded to a welfare call for an adult female at approximately 4 am Friday, after Demegillo, 20, allegedly sent messages to the caller claiming she had secretly been pregnant and had “done something” to her newborn baby, he said.
After officers arrived at her Palm Coast home, Demegillo led them to a shallow grave in her backyard, where she allegedly buried the baby’s remains around 10 pm the previous night.
The college student admitted to police that she had delivered the baby into the toilet, and watched as her daughter cried and squirmed until she was dead, Barile said.
The girl was 3 pounds and six ounces and 18.7 inches long and was buried beneath three to five inches of dirt, Barile said.
The woman’s mother was home at the time police arrived, according to the chief deputy.
Demegillo was “oddly calm” during her interviews with police and claimed she didn’t know she was pregnant until she gave birth, Barile said.
“I watched some of the interview, and I didn’t see any remorse,” the chief deputy revealed, “for someone to stand and watch this, that’s tough.”
Barile told reporters that police are still conducting their investigation and are yet to speak to Demegillo’s father.
The chief deputy told reporters that Demegillo, though not remorseful, vaguely understood that what she did was wrong.
He said that as far as police are aware, nobody else had any knowledge that Demegillo was pregnant and that no additional parties are likely to be implicated in the baby’s death.