Mom sentenced for killing newborn, lighting blanket on fire, and abandoning him 27 years ago

ALBANY, N.Y. (TCN) -- A 53-year-old woman will spend the next 25 years in prison for smothering her newborn son to death, leaving him in a park, and lighting his blanket on fire to cover up her tracks nearly 30 years ago.

The Albany County District Attorney’s Office announced Keri Mazzuca’s sentencing on April 18, saying she pleaded guilty in February to first-degree manslaughter in connection with the death of her son known as "Baby Moses."

Baby Moses' body was found in Washington Park on the morning of Sept. 7, 1997. Investigators searched for answers, but it would take 27 years and new DNA technology for them to identify Mazzuca as the child’s mother. She was arrested Sept. 14, 2024, on charges of second-degree murder, concealment of a human corpse, and tampering with physical evidence.

According to the Albany Times-Union, Mazzuca confessed at her plea hearing that she killed her son by covering his mouth and nose with her hand. When he died, she reportedly covered him with a blanket, put him in a bag, and left him in the park under a statue of Moses, which is why he was named Baby Moses. Then, she reportedly lit the blanket on fire. The pathologist said the child was born healthy and was alive for less than 12 hours. The boy’s umbilical cord was still attached.

Mazzuca reportedly testified that she did not know she was pregnant before giving birth in her bathroom. Baby Moses' father allegedly told detectives he was not aware that Mazzuca was pregnant or that she killed the child.

At the sentencing hearing, Mazzuca apologized and called herself a "great mom," adding, "I’ve lived a law-abiding life."

She admitted she "did a horrible, unimaginable thing. And I lived with remorse and regret."

Mazzuca’s attorney said, "What occurred here was done under extreme emotional disturbance."

Albany County Judge Roger McDonough, however, called it a "tragedy beyond measure."

He said, "How can I measure what he would have accomplished in his life? He’d be 27 now, probably have children of his own."

District Attorney Lee Kindlon said following the sentencing, "Albany is one of those places that just doesn’t quit. We take care of our own and we stick together, and today’s outcome in this case is a demonstration of that resolve. The men and women of the Albany Police Department, the FBI, New York State Police, the DA’s office, the students and professors who came together in this case, they helped their own, they helped Baby Moses. And I couldn’t be more proud of their efforts."

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