Columbia woman sentenced to 30 years for suffocating newborn
BALTIMORE -- A Columbia woman who suffocated her newborn boy in a zipped plastic bag was sentenced by a Howard County Circuit Court judge to 30 years in prison on Friday.
Moira Akers, 41, was found guilty of second-degree murder and first-degree child abuse in April.
Akers had faced charges stemming from the birth and death of her child in late 2018.
Howard County Police were called to Howard County General Hospital on November 1, 2018, after Akers had been transported from her residence by paramedics. She did not disclose the fact that she had given birth to medics who treated her.
At the hospital, medical personnel learned of the birth and shortly after investigators went to her house to conduct a welfare check, according to Howard County officials.
Once there, investigators found a newborn baby boy wrapped in towels and stuffed in a Ziplock bag under a blanket in a closet with the door shut.
The Office of the Chief Medical Examiner conducted an autopsy of the baby within the following months and determined in March 2019 that the cause of death was a homicide, according to authorities.
A report released by the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner stated that the baby boy was healthy and alive at birth.
He died from asphyxiation and exposure, according to Howard County officials.
Akers' internet search history revealed many searches on how to terminate a pregnancy, according to police.
"This was truly one of the most difficult cases my office has ever had to prosecute because we had the burden of proving the baby was born alive," Howard County State's Attorney Rich Gibson said in April 2022. "Thanks to the great work of HCPD detectives, our prosecutors, the Office of Chief Medical Examiner and other experts, we were able to prove to a jury that the egregious and unconscionable actions of Ms. Akers ultimately led to the murder of her own child."