A Virginia woman was arrested three decades after she allegedly drowned her newborn son and left his body inside a toilet at a Long Island movie theater, authorities said.
Michelle Chronick Tyson, 59, was indicted on two counts of second-degree murder after DNA evidence connected her to the infant’s 1996 death, the Suffolk County District Attorney’s Office announced Thursday.
“As alleged, this defendant made a choice back in 1996 to take her newborn child’s life before he ever had the chance to experience the world beyond his first few breaths,” Suffolk County District Attorney Raymond A. Tierney said in a statement.
“The alleged circumstances of this infant’s death are deeply disturbing, and the fact that nearly three decades have passed does not diminish the gravity of this crime,” Tierney said.
The baby was found inside a toilet in a women’s bathroom at the now-shuttered Commack Multiplex shortly after 12:30 a.m. on Nov. 18, 1996. Authorities determined that he died from “asphyxia with submersion in water.”
The Suffolk County Medical Examiner’s Office ruled the death a homicide.
After the infant was discovered, investigators preserved a blood sample as evidence. The case remained unsolved until the Cold Case Task Force sent the sample to a private laboratory, which developed a “Single Nucleotide Polymorphism DNA profile.”
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The task force, a specialized team made up of Suffolk County police officers and members of the district attorney’s office, used the genetic profile to identify Tyson as the likely mother of the baby.
Investigators obtained a warrant on Aug. 26 to collect a buccal swab from Tyson. Testing confirmed that she was the biological mother of the slain infant, prosecutors said.
Tyson was arrested Wednesday in Hampton, Virginia, then extradited to Long Island to face the murder charges.
She was arraigned Thursday on the second-degree murder indictment and ordered held without bail.
If convicted of the top charge, Tyson could face 25 years to life in prison.
Tierney said that “every child deserves the chance to live, to grow and to thrive.”
“This infant was robbed of that chance,” he added. “We are committed to pursuing justice for a life that was tragically and selfishly cut short.”
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