HIGHLANDS RANCH, Colo —
A Highlands Ranch mother will spend the rest of her life in prison after she was found guilty of throwing her newborn daughter over her neighbor's fence, leaving the helpless child to die.
In August, Camille Wasinger-Konrad, 26, was convicted by a Douglas County jury of first-degree murder, murder by a person in a position of trust, and tampering with evidence for the Jan. 2, 2018 incident, according to a news release from the 18th Judicial District Attorney's Office. Friday she was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.
According to prosecutors, the newborn baby was lying on her neighbor's deck in the January cold for 948 minutes before she was found by the person who lived in the house. By then it was too late.
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“This tiny baby was smothered by her mother, flung over a neighbor’s fence and left to die by the only human she had ever known,” Deputy District Attorney Christopher Gallo told the jury during closing arguments. “This defendant hurled her newborn 11 feet over an 8-foot fence, knowingly consigning her to her death. This little girl died in the cold without the dignity of even a name.
During a preliminary hearing last year, the lead detective in the case testified that Wasinger-Konrad admitted to throwing her child over the fence.
Det. Adam Moorman said after the baby was found, an ensuing search led to the discovery of a shower curtain with what appeared to be a “significant amount of blood” on it in the trash can belonging to the house next door. Investigators learned Wasinger-Konrad had been renting a room there, and blood was found in the upstairs bathroom.
Moorman testified that the family claimed Wasinger-Konrad told them the blood was due to a reaction to medication she was taking. But, while speaking to detectives, Moorman admitted she woke up that morning with stomach pains and “the baby just came out.”
Since 2000, Colorado has had a Safe Haven Law where a parent can hand over a newborn up to 72 hours old to an employee at a fire station or hospital with no questions asked.
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