Latest news with #KeriMazzuca
Daily Mirror
22-05-2025
- Daily Mirror
Killer mum's three chilling words after suffocating baby boy and burning body
Keri Mazzuca, 52, has been captured on newly released footage confessing to the harrowing murder of a child, who was found wrapped in a towel and burned back in 1997 This is the chilling moment a baby killer calmly confesses to police she suffocated and burned her baby son's body nearly 30 years ago. Keri Mazzuca, 52, was captured on newly released footage confessing to the death of the little boy, who was found wrapped in a towel and burned at the foot of a statue of Moses in Albany's Washington Park in 1997. She was interviewed by cops last year after she gave a sample using technology used to capture the Gilgo Beach killer, Rex Heuermann. Mazzuca was shown the horrific photo of the child's remains when she made a casual admission, according to footage released by the Albany County District Attorney's Office. 'I got pregnant. I had the baby. I gave birth in my bathtub; the baby died. I didn't know how to get rid of it,' she told officers. The suspect had previously claimed the baby died in the bathtub during childbirth and that she put the corpse in a bag and gave it to a "random person" at the park. However, police pressed her story and claimed the baby had not died of natural causes, and her story was inconsistent. 'I didn't know what to do. I set the baby on fire,' Mazzuca admitted calmly. 'It was dead," she insisted in a chilling statement. "I suffocated the child." She told officers the child was not alive when she set him on fire. Mazzuca pleaded guilty to a manslaughter charge in February and was jailed for 25 years in April. Albany County District Attorney Lee Kindlon welcomed her sentence, she said: 'Now, 27 years later, we can look at this collective investigative effort combined with the emerging science and be reinvigorated that we can tackle even more cold cases going forward.' It comes after a drug-induced driver was jailed after his reckless actions behind the wheel killed a four-month-old baby. Craig Nunn, 40, was jailed for 14 years at Worcester Crown Court after causing death by dangerous driving. Little Harley Wilkinson was sadly killed in the incident just after midnight on October 26 last year, a horrific crash that also left the child's father Jake Wilkinson seriously injured. The court was told Nunn, of Sandy Lane in Stourport, was nearly two times the drug-drive limit in his Ford Focus when he smashed into a black Suzuki Vitara being driven by Harley's mother Imogen Bradley. Nunn was under the influence of amphetamines at the time, causing the crash in Worcestershire by running through a red light. Ms Bradley was driving home with her partner Mr Wilkinson after picking their son up from her sister's home when the collision occurred as she turned from Walter Nash Way West onto the A451 in the direction of Stourport.
Yahoo
22-05-2025
- Yahoo
Moment baby-killer calmly admits to suffocating, burning newborn ‘Baby Moses' 30 years ago caught on tape: ‘I did it'
The shocking moment a New York woman matter-of-factly admitted to suffocating and burning her infant son in an Albany park nearly 30 years ago was captured on newly released footage, according to a report. DNA testing on the child's remains led investigators to Keri Mazzuca, 52, who was interviewed last year over the death of 'Baby Moses' — a child found wrapped in a towel and burned at the foot of a statue of Moses in Albany's Washington Park in 1997, News10 reported. The technology, which Mazzuca submitted a sample for, was the same used to nab accused Gilgo Beach serial killer Rex Heuermann and Golden State Killer Joseph James DeAngelo, according to the outlet. After being shown a gruesome photo of the newborn's charred remains, Mazzuca made an admission with seemingly casual indifference, footage released by the Albany County District Attorney's Office showed. 'I did it,' Mazzuca calmly states to the officer, before attempting to justify her heinous act when she was in her mid-twenties. 'I got pregnant. I had the baby. I gave birth in my bathtub; the baby died. I didn't know how to get rid of it,' she claimed to officers — still not appearing to break into any semblance of emotional response. Mazzuca denied burning Baby Moses, claiming that the child had died in the bathtub during childbirth and that she placed the corpse in a bag and handed it to a 'random person' at the park, video showed. Detectives told Mazzuca that an autopsy found Baby Moses had not died of natural causes and her story was not adding up, News10 reported. 'I didn't know what to do. I set the baby on fire,' Mazzuca admitted calmly, while adjusting the hem of her skirt. 'It was dead.' 'I suffocated the child,' she said, claiming to officers that the child was not alive when she lit him on fire. Mazzuca pleaded guilty to a manslaughter charge in February and was sentenced to 25 years in prison last month, News10 reported. Baby Moses was found on Sept. 7, 1997, in a blue towel — burned to death near a box of wooden matches, according to the Doe Network. The child has a headstone in Graceland Cemetery that reads, 'Moses Washington. Citizen of Albany. Child of God.'
Daily Mail
21-05-2025
- Daily Mail
Breathtaking moment polished middle-aged woman unburdens herself with awful admission that will ruin her life
A middle-aged woman shockingly confessed to being responsible for the mystery death of a baby boy that had baffled detectives for nearly three decades. The remains of the child have been known as Baby Moses since the 1997 discovery under the Moses Statue in Albany's Washington Park in upstate New York. His death had remained unsolved for 28 years until local woman Keri Mazzuca was bought in for questioning based on newly discovered DNA evidence. Authorities in the city have released the clip of her interrogation, captured last September, in which she suddenly confessed that the child belonged to her and claimed that he had died in a bathtub during childbirth. In the clip Mazzuca can be seen inside a police interrogation room being questioned by two detectives. She is shown a picture of the remains and recoils at them. After being informed during the questioning that the DNA testing on the child's remains had been connected to her family, Mazzuca agreed to give her DNA for further analysis. Mazzuca initially told officers that neither she nor any of her relatives were pregnant at the time of Baby Moses's death. Less than an hour later, however, she stunned investigators by admitting that she was the mother and responsible for what had happened. The detective had told her that they would be able figure out if she was the mother via her DNA, which prompted her admission. In the clip, she can be heard saying: 'I did it', the lead detective asks her: 'You did it?', to which she repeats her admission. When asked what happened, Mazzuca says: 'I got pregnant. I had the baby. I gave birth in my bathtub, the baby died. I didn't know how to get rid of it.' She continues: 'I put it in a towel, in my car. I carried it out like it was groceries.' Mazzuca told officers that she had given the remains of the baby to a stranger in the park and had not been responsible for burning them. The detective tells her: 'Keri that doesn't make sense. You did not hand this baby to a random person. That didn't happen.' She then confesses to also setting the baby on fire, saying: 'It was dead. It was dead.' The detective pushes back on her story, saying an autopsy carried out discovered that the baby had been breathing telling her the boy didn't die of natural causes. Mazzuca can then be heard confessing that she suffocated the child by putting him in a bag, saying she couldn't remember if she had smothered him. In February she pleaded guilty to a manslaughter charge and was sentenced last month to 25 years in prison, news10 reported. Prosecutors said that Mazzuca, who was 25 at the time, smothered the child before taking him to the park and setting it on fire. Prior to her sentence being handed down, Mazzuca addressed the court saying: 'I did a horrible, unimaginable thing and I live with remorse and regret 'I am a great mom. I've lived a law-abiding life, and I hope you use your discretion to go toward the lower end.' FBI researchers had been able to identify one of the child's relatives a few years ago after analyzing its DNA. The genetic evidence led investigators probing the death to Mazzuca's doorstep. At the time of the death she had lived just a few blocks from the park. DNA from trash outside her current address confirmed that a woman inside was Baby Moses' biological mother, officers had said. The horrifying scene of her child's final resting place was discovered by park workers in 1997: A partially charred blue pillowcase with burned matches scattered on top. When they nudged the bundle with a shovel, it revealed the lifeless body of a newborn baby boy. The shocking discovery sparked a manhunt that would last nearly three decades. As leads went cold, the city of Albany refused to let 'Baby Moses' be forgotten. They even 'adopted' the infant, naming him Moses Washington after the park statue near where he was found. He was laid to rest in a white casket and his grave was marked by a headstone topped with a marble lamb, the epitaph reads: 'Citizen of Albany, child of God'.
Yahoo
18-04-2025
- Yahoo
NY mother sentenced for killing newborn, burying body in Albany park in 1997
An upstate New York woman was sentenced on Friday to 25 years in prison for the death of her newborn, whose body was found in an Albany park nearly 30 years ago. Keri Mazzuca, of Altamont, was arrested last year in connection with the cold case that was finally solved with the help of DNA evidence. The 53-year-old mother of two was arrested by Albany police on Sept. 14 and charged with second-degree murder and related crimes. Prosecutors accused Mazzuca of killing her newborn, whose remains were found under the statue of Moses in Albany's Washington Park on the morning of Sept. 7, 1997. The baby, still with his umbilical cord attached, was wrapped in charred cloth, officials said. He was later determined to have been born alive and healthy. Investigation into the shocking discovery, which became known as the 'Baby Moses' case, went cold due to a lack of evidence. However, in 2020, police reopened the case and partnered with the Cold Case Analysis Center at the College of Saint Rose in Albany. Using previously unavailable DNA technology, forensic specialists extracted a usable DNA profile from preserved evidence, which led them to Mazzuca. On Feb. 13, Mazzuca pleaded guilty to first-degree manslaughter and tampering with physical evidence in Albany County Court. As part of the plea, she admitted to suffocating her newborn son to death and concealing his body. During her sentencing on Friday, Mazzuca addressed the court and apologized for her actions. 'I did a horrible, unimaginable thing. And I lived with remorse and regret,' Mazzuca said when asking for leniency. 'I'm a great mom. I've lived a law-abiding life. I do deserve a lengthy sentence, I just hope you use some discretion.' Albany County Judge Roger McDonough wasn't convinced. Calling her actions a 'tragedy beyond measure,' McDonough sentenced her to the statutory maximum of 25 years in prison.
