The teenage mother who abandoned Baby Mary in a New Jersey park on Christmas Eve 1984 was leading a normal life with her husband and children in South Carolina before police caught her last year.
Catherine Crumlich, now 57, was just 17 when she left the day-old baby next to a creek in Mendham, Morris County, with the umbilical cord still intact.
The death was ruled a homicide after the medical examiner determined the baby was still alive when Crumlich wrapped her in a towel and placed her inside a plastic bag.
The girl was baptized by a local priest, the Reverend Michael Drury of St. Joseph’s Church, who nicknamed her ‘Maria,’ and the case made national headlines.
For 40 years, the case was cold. Then, in September of last year, prosecutors made the bombshell announcement that they had tracked down Mary’s parents using DNA connected to her then-19-year-old father.
He had died, but the mother, Crumlich, was alive and well, living with her family.
Crumlich was convicted last week of juvenile delinquency and sentenced to one year in prison.
Catherine Crumlich, 57, has been sentenced to 364 days in prison, almost 40 years after she abandoned her newborn baby in a New Jersey park.
Crumlich moved to the South Carolina suburbs and was the spitting image of a devoted mother to her two sons, Zachary and Noah.
She was just 17 years old when she left her unnamed baby next to a creek in Mendham, Morris County, on Christmas Eve 1984.
Her Facebook captures the life she led under the name Catherine Snyder-Crumlich after moving and settling in the suburbs of Columbia, South Carolina, with her new family.
The photos show her happily posing with her husband, David, and their children, Zachary and Noah.
Crumlich was the picture of a loving mother, attending her children’s high school baseball games, weddings and then taking care of her grandchildren.
She accepted a job at a specialty grocery store called The Crescent Olive, where she was photographed smiling with her coworkers around Christmas 2018.
But her good life came to an end when she was sentenced to a year in jail last week after pleading guilty to involuntary manslaughter.
This came a year after Morris County prosecutors filed a juvenile delinquency complaint, leading to his arrest in South Carolina.
Researchers used modern DNA analysis to trace Baby Mary’s parents, but her father, who was 19 at the time of her birth, died in 2009 before he could be identified.
According to prosecutors, there is no evidence that the man was aware of the birth or death of his daughter.
Crumlich pleaded guilty on February 28. The Morris County Prosecutor’s Office said the manslaughter charge would have been considered a second-degree crime if it had been committed by an adult.
Facebook photos show Crumlich smiling with her husband, David
The 57-year-old woman (left) was photographed attending her children’s high school baseball games and weddings.
Investigators used modern DNA analysis to determine the identity of Baby Mary’s parents, but the girl’s father (not pictured) died in 2009, before the case could come to a close.
Crumlich (second from left) was tracked to South Carolina and arrested in April 2023.
On April 3, Judge Michael Wright sentenced Crumlich to 364 days in the Morris County Correctional Facility, followed by two years of probation.
The ruling marked the end of a case that had remained cold for decades.
It came 40 years after two children discovered Baby Mary on Christmas Eve morning. The medical examiner determined that she was less than 24 hours old at the time of her death.
In her mother’s absence, the community took it upon herself to care for Baby Mary.
She was buried in the church cemetery and given a tombstone with a biblical quote inscribed: “I will never forget you, I have engraved you on the palm of my hand.”
Father Drury continued to hold a service at the baby’s grave every Christmas Eve.
He pleaded guilty to involuntary manslaughter on February 28. If the crime had been committed when she was an adult, prosecutors said it would have been elevated to a second-degree crime.
In a news release, Morris County Prosecutor Robert Carroll praised the tireless work of police and investigators that led to the identification of the little girl’s parents.
“Over the past nearly four decades, investigators have vigorously pursued all leads to identify Baby Mary and learn more about the circumstances that led to her discovery in the woods,” he wrote.
“This provision has been years in the making, across generations of law enforcement officers who have demonstrated a tireless commitment to justice for Baby Mary.”
Talking with him Bergen RegistryMendham Township Police Chief Ross Johnson said he was relieved the mystery had finally come to an end.
“I’m proud that we can finally bring justice to a little girl, unnecessarily abandoned in the woods on a cold winter night,” Johnson said.