NEW YORK: A 29-year-old Indian-American woman has been charged with first-degree murder for causing the death of her newborn infant by allegedly tossing the baby into a seaside inlet in Florida in 2018 because "she didn't know what to do with her", according to media reports.
Arya Singh, the mother of the female infant known only as 'Baby June', was arrested on Thursday after she confessed to the crime.
The baby's body was found floating in the Boynton Beach inlet in Florida on June 1, 2018, after she had been disposed of "like a piece of trash," said New York Post newspaper quoted Sheriff Ric Bradshaw as saying.
The mother confessed to the crime, saying "she didn't know what to do with her."
The arrest was made after investigators from Palm Beach County Sherriff's cold case unit found the father who cooperated in the probe, the WPTV report said.
"He knew nothing about the baby," Detective Brittany Christoffel said.
"He knew that he had a girlfriend around that time (who) told him that she had been pregnant, but she had taken care of it," Christoffel was quoted as saying by the news channel.
The father of the infant believed that Singh had an abortion.
Singh confessed to putting the baby in the water and told that she hadn't realised she was pregnant until she gave birth to the baby in the bathroom of a hotel room, said Christoffel, who spearheaded the case.
"She said when the baby was born she wasn't sure if the baby was alive or dead and that was that," Christoffel said of the Singh.
The baby was believed to be alive when she was thrown into the ocean, authorities said.
"She didn't know what to do with her and she still had her with her and she just decided that's where she was going to dispose of her," Christoffel said.
Christoffel said Singh was taken into custody after determining that she "was solely responsible for the baby ending up in the Boynton Beach Inlet."
Palm Beach County State Attorney Dave Aronberg said Singh is being charged with first-degree murder.
The DNA sample collected from the father and covertly from Singh herself helped the investigators in confirming she was the mother, the authorities said.
Further investigation into Singh's cellphone records helped determine that she had been at the Boynton Beach Inlet on May 30, 2018, about 40 hours before the baby's body was discovered.
Singh had been working as a security guard at Lynn University in Boca Raton since July 2021, but a spokeswoman for the school said her employment has been terminated, the report said.
The next court date is set for January 17. If convicted, she faces either life in prison or the death penalty.