Inset: Pamela Ferreyra (Monterey County District Attorney’s Office). Background: The area where Ferreyra’s newborn was found dead (Google Maps).
A mother from California faces over a decade behind bars for the tragic death of her newborn son. She concealed the birth from her family, including her husband and other children, and left the baby in a grocery bag outside, leading to his death.
On Wednesday, a judge in Monterey County sentenced Pamela Ferreyra to 13 years and four months in state prison for the crime. The infant, known as “Baby Garin,” was at the center of this heartbreaking case.
Ferreyra’s sentencing followed a plea agreement with the district attorney’s office. She admitted guilt to charges of voluntary manslaughter and felony child abuse related to the infant’s death in December 1994. Additionally, she acknowledged inflicting “great bodily injury” upon her son during these acts.
In a statement from the Monterey County District Attorney’s Office, it was revealed that the “partial remains of a 2-to-3-day-old baby” were found along Garin Road in Prunedale, located 90 miles southeast of San Francisco.
The release indicated that an autopsy confirmed the child was born alive, outside a medical facility, and had not been fed for about 24 hours before his death.
The child’s remains were discovered by a man who was collecting cans in the area, as reported by the local NBC affiliate KSBW in their coverage of the incident.
Investigators could not determine the child’s cause of death, and no missing person report had been filed. Despite a thorough investigation by the county sheriff’s office, authorities could not find a viable lead in identifying the boy’s parents.
A cold case task force established by the DA’s office in 2020 reexamined the case in 2024, sending samples of the victim’s DNA for further testing. Those tests revealed that Ferreyra was the mother.
In a subsequent interview with detectives, prosecutors said Ferreyra admitted to abandoning the boy.
“Ferreyra told the investigators that she hid her pregnancy from everyone around her, including her husband and children,” prosecutors wrote. “She admitted [the baby] was born alive in her home. After he was born, Ferreyra said she dressed him, put him in her car, drove him to the remote Prunedale location, and left him there. She never returned to the location or investigated what happened to [the victim].”
The DA’s office said Ferreyra’s guilty plea marked the 10th conviction for a cold case murder since prosecutors established the task force.
