A western Pennsylvania woman has been charged with criminal homicide, involuntary manslaughter and multiple counts of abuse of a corpse after the remains of her four infants were found in a home she had been evicted from last month.
Jessica Marie Mauthe, 39, was arrested after her former landlord called police to the home she had lived in outside Ford City, about 40 miles (64 kilometers) northeast of Pittsburgh.
State police said the remains were found in a bedroom closet and in the attic of the home on Oak Avenue in Cadogan Township. The landlord was cleaning out a closet in the home on Sept. 13 when he came across a trash bag with a foul odor and something wrapped in towels that was decomposing, according to the arrest affidavit issued Thursday.
Investigators found the bodies of three other infants in the attic in tote bags, wrapped in towels and inside plastic bags, police said.
Messages seeking comment were left Monday for public defender Greta Marie Kiser, listed as Mauthe’s defense lawyer in the online docket, and for Armstrong County District Attorney Katie Charlton.
About a year ago, Mauthe told investigators, she gave birth to a child who made several noises before she held the child “against her, where it remained until it stopped making noises and stopped breathing,” police wrote.
Mauthe told troopers that one newborn had whimpered after she gave birth to it about six years ago, after which she passed out on the floor, according to the affidavit. When she awakened, the baby was beneath her and was not breathing, she told them.
Mauthe is in the Armstrong County Jail without bail. She was charged with criminal homicide for the death a year ago, involuntary manslaughter for the death about six years ago, and four counts each of concealing the death of a child and abuse of a corpse. A preliminary hearing is scheduled for next week.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.