{"id":221331,"date":"2026-04-07T01:03:10","date_gmt":"2026-04-07T01:03:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/221331\/"},"modified":"2026-04-07T01:03:10","modified_gmt":"2026-04-07T01:03:10","slug":"central-florida-mom-accused-of-murdering-baby-right-after-birth-sheriff-says","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/221331\/","title":{"rendered":"Central Florida mom accused of murdering baby right after birth, sheriff says"},"content":{"rendered":"

FLAGLER COUNTY, Fla. \u2013 A Central Florida mother is now facing a murder charge after her newborn was found buried in a shallow grave behind her home<\/a> last month, according to the Flagler County Sheriff\u2019s Office.<\/p>\n

The incident was revealed in early March when law enforcement arrived at her Palm Coast home for a welfare check, which came at the behest of a friend who\u2019d learned that she\u2019d been secretly pregnant and had unexpectedly given birth.<\/p>\n

According to investigators, the woman \u2014 identified as Anne Demegillo, 20 \u2014 explained she\u2019d delivered the baby in a toilet, that the infant cried at first before no longer breathing, and that she hid the child in a duffel bag before burying the infant the night before.<\/p>\n

[BELOW: Florida baby found dead in shallow grave after disturbing birth at home]<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s tragic for the child, for everyone. And it baffles me. I could never imagine being able to do that,” said Chief Deputy Joe Barile. <\/p>\n

The sheriff\u2019s office said Demegillo was initially reluctant to speak with deputies but later led them to the grave and gave a statement about the birth and her actions afterward. <\/p>\n

Deputies said the grave was very shallow, as investigators had to remove about 4-5 inches of dirt to uncover the infant, who had been wrapped in a towel.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur detectives and our deputies, when they first got there on a well-being check, when they found out what she had done, they immediately went to that garden and used their hands and dug the baby up, hoping that there was still an opportunity to save the child,\u201d Sheriff Rick Staly said.<\/p>\n

Investigators said they believe no one else in the household knew the woman was pregnant. Officials said Demegillo attended a local college and that only her mother was at the home; they said the baby\u2019s father\u2019s whereabouts are unknown.<\/p>\n

Anne Mae Demegillo, 20 (Flagler County Sheriff’s Office)<\/p>\n

While Demegillo was initially charged with aggravated manslaughter, the FCSO announced on Monday that she now faces charges of first-degree murder, aggravated child abuse, and failure to report a person\u2019s death to conceal the death.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt became very apparent that she did know she was pregnant, that she did not want to be pregnant and was trying to figure out how to dispose of the fetus before birth,\u201d Staly told News 6. \u201cOr then, what to do afterward.\u201d<\/p>\n

According to the FCSO, detectives uncovered searches on Demegillo\u2019s phone for \u201cnewborn premature babies,\u201d \u201cPalm Coast OBGYN,\u201d and \u201cfoods to decrease fertility.\u201d Images of Casey Anthony and new babies were reportedly also found, which suggested searches on the death of a child and subsequent investigation.<\/p>\n

[BELOW: Florida woman accused of letting newborn drown in toilet, burying baby in backyard bonds out of jail]<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is one of those tragic cases that shock you to your core that a mother would allow a newborn to die because the newborn was a distraction to her life,\u201d Staly added. \u201cIt\u2019s hard to comprehend how a mother would choose to watch their infant drown instead of lifting the baby out of the toilet.\u201d<\/p>\n

Deputies also reported that Demegillo turned herself in and will be held on no bond pending a court hearing.<\/p>\n

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Copyright 2026 by WKMG ClickOrlando – All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"FLAGLER COUNTY, Fla. \u2013 A Central Florida mother is now facing a murder charge after her newborn was…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":221332,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[7071,265,4424,4717,28,30,29,17140],"class_list":{"0":"post-221331","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-florida","8":"tag-children","9":"tag-crime","10":"tag-death-investigation","11":"tag-flagler-county","12":"tag-florida","13":"tag-florida-headlines","14":"tag-florida-news","15":"tag-palm-coast"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/221331","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=221331"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/221331\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/221332"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=221331"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=221331"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=221331"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}