Prosecutors file manslaughter charge in University of Tampa newborn death

TAMPA — Hillsborough State Attorney Suzy Lopez charged a 19-year-old former University of Tampa student with aggravated manslaughter Friday over the death of a newborn child that police found in a dorm room trash can in April.

Brianna L. Moore was arrested in Mississippi and will be transferred to Hillsborough County, the state attorney's office said in a news release.

A search warrant affidavit made public earlier this year described an investigation that began after Moore's roommates in McKay Hall reported hearing a baby crying and a possible miscarriage. Police later found a newborn baby girl wrapped in a towel in a trash bag.

Moore told police that she hadn't had a period in about a year and didn't know she was pregnant but "may have been in denial," the affidavit states.

She said she started to feel nauseous on the morning of April 27 and gave birth in the bathroom between two adjoining dorm rooms, according to the affidavit. She said the newborn cried for about five seconds and when she put the baby to her chest, the girl stopped crying. She kept the baby to her chest for several minutes and then put the child down on a towel.

Moore told police that when she put her hand to the baby's chest and did not feel anything, she thought the baby was dead. She took a shower, cleaned the infant with water from the shower and wrapped it in a towel.

Moore said she took the towel-wrapped baby to her room, laid her on the floor and fell asleep for about an hour, the affidavit states. When she woke up about 11 a.m. that day, the baby still showed no signs of life, so she placed the infant in a trash can and went back to sleep.

A medical examiner determined the baby had a broken spine, broken ribs and bleeding in her lungs, the state attorney's office said. The cause of death was asphyxiation.

In a statement, Lopez noted that the case is legally "difficult and nuanced," and spoke of the need to "educate women about the many resources available to them in situations like this one."

"This baby's death was avoidable," Lopez said.

Along with the manslaughter charge, Moore is accused of child neglect, unlawful storage of human remains and failure to report a death.