CADOGAN TOWNSHIP, Pa. (BN24) — A Pennsylvania woman has been charged with criminal homicide, involuntary manslaughter and multiple counts of concealing the death of a child after investigators found the remains of her four infants hidden inside a house she had been evicted from last month, authorities said.
Jessica Marie Mauthe, 39, was arrested after her former landlord made a gruesome discovery while cleaning the property on Oak Avenue in Cadogan Township, a small community about 40 miles northeast of Pittsburgh. According to an arrest affidavit released Thursday, the landlord found a trash bag in a bedroom closet on Sept. 13 that contained a decomposing infant wrapped in towels.
When Pennsylvania State Police searched the rest of the home, they discovered three more infant bodies in the attic, each placed inside tote bags, wrapped in towels, and sealed in plastic bags.
Mauthe reportedly admitted to investigators that she had concealed the births and deaths of her children. About a year ago, she told police, she gave birth to a baby who cried briefly before she held the child against her body until it stopped breathing. She also described another incident roughly six years earlier when she gave birth, passed out on the floor, and later awoke to find the newborn dead beneath her.
Authorities said Mauthe faces one count of criminal homicide for the death last year, one count of involuntary manslaughter in connection with the death six years ago, and four counts each of concealing the death of a child and abuse of a corpse.
She is being held in the Armstrong County Jail without bail. A preliminary hearing has been scheduled for next week.
Neither Armstrong County District Attorney Katie Charlton nor Mauthe’s public defender, Greta Marie Kiser, responded to requests for comment Monday.
The discovery has rattled Cadogan Township, a community of fewer than 500 residents, where neighbors described the case as both heartbreaking and horrifying.
