A teen mother who left her newborn daughter to die in a plastic bag in a New Jersey park on Christmas Eve 1984 seeks forgiveness after her past caught up with her 40 years later. Mary Catherine Snyder, then 17 years old, abandoned her unnamed newborn near a stream in a wooded area of upscale Mendham Township, wrapping the baby in a towel and placing her inside a plastic bag with the umbilical cord still attached. The medical examiner determined that the infant was born alive, and the death was ruled a homicide. The baby girl was baptized by a local priest, Rev. Michael Drury, who named her “Mary” and ensured she was buried in the church’s cemetery with a proper gravestone.
Despite the passing of time, investigators never forgot Baby Mary, and detectives pursued the case for four decades, with Father Mike holding a graveside service for the infant every Christmas Eve. In 2023, modern DNA-testing methods led authorities to the identity of the baby’s now-dead father, leading them to Snyder, who had taken on the married name Crumlich and was living as a baseball mom with two sons in a South Carolina suburb. At 57 years old, Snyder/Crumlich was sentenced to a year in jail after pleading guilty to manslaughter, publicly identified for the first time.
During a recent conversation with Father Drury, Snyder/Crumlich expressed her remorse for her actions, stating that she knows she did wrong and has asked God for forgiveness. Father Drury reassured her that God has forgiven her and that Baby Mary is now safe with Him. Despite the mistake she made as a scared young girl, Snyder/Crumlich hopes to attend the annual service for her long-lost daughter next Christmas Eve, as she grapples with the enduring impact of her actions. Investigators worked tirelessly across generations to identify the baby, her parents, and the reasons for her abandonment, eventually leading to a resolution through new forensic DNA technology combined with traditional police work.
In April 2023, Morris County prosecutors filed a juvenile delinquency complaint against Crumlich, resulting in her arrest in South Carolina. On February 28, she pled guilty to manslaughter, acknowledging her role in Baby Mary’s death. The father of Baby Mary, who was 19 at the time, has never been publicly identified, and he passed away in 2009 without knowledge of the baby. Authorities highlighted the importance of New Jersey’s Safe Haven Infant Protection Act, which was not passed until 2000, allowing families to safely and anonymously surrender infants to help prevent tragedies like Baby Mary’s. Sheriff James Gannon emphasized the availability of help for young parents in similar situations, urging them to seek assistance rather than resorting to dangerous abandonment.