PALM COAST, Fla. (CBS12) — A Florida woman is behind bars after deputies say she secretly gave birth at home, allowed the newborn to drown, and buried the infant in a shallow grave.
Deputies with the Flagler County Sheriff’s Office say they were called to a welfare check for 20-year-old Anne Mae Demegillo of Palm Coast.
The call reportedly stated that Demegillo had secretly been pregnant and given birth at home. The baby was born alive, but dispatchers indicated that Demegillo may have “done something” to her child.
Upon arrival, deputies say they met with her and learned she “wasn’t sure” if she was pregnant, but had been experiencing abdominal pain at 3 a.m. on Thursday, and later delivered the child on the toilet.
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She told deputies that she believed the baby was deceased so she hid the infant in a duffle bag in her closet, and went about her day.
After returning home from a theater performance in New Smyrna Beach, she told deputies that she dug a shallow grave in her backyard and buried the infant. Investigators determined that Demegillo knowingly and purposefully allowed the newborn to drown in the toilet.
Flagler County Sheriff Rick Staly commented on the incident, saying it didn’t have to end this way:
This is a heartbreaking tragedy for our community, for the family involved, and an emotionally difficult case for our team. I want to remind our community, especially our expectant mothers: Florida law allows you to bring a child at birth to a local fire station, hospital or law enforcement agency and surrender the child. That is a much better solution than what we are investigating today—for everyone involved, but most importantly the infant who was prevented from the life they deserve. May God bless this infant and hold and comfort the baby in his loving hands with the love the baby never received on earth.
Under Florida’s Safe Haven Law, a parent who is unable to care for a newborn can legally and safely surrender the baby at a fire station, hospital, or police station. Palm Coast’s Safe Haven Baby Box, located at Fire Station 25 and activated on September 30, 2025, provides a fully anonymous option. Parents can discreetly place their newborn in the secure, climate-controlled box without any face-to-face interaction.
Demegillo was subsequently booked on counts of aggravated manslaughter of a child and booked into Sheriff Perry Hall Inmate Detention Facility.
The case is ongoing at this time, anyone with information is urged to contact FCSO at 386-313-4911.