A 39-year-old woman from Pennsylvania is facing additional charges after authorities discovered the remains of a fourth infant in the house she had been renting. Jessica Mauthe was taken into custody last weekend and is now being charged with criminal homicide and involuntary manslaughter. Earlier in the week, Mauthe was accused of criminal homicide and abuse of a corpse when the landlord discovered a deceased infant concealed in a garbage bag in a bedroom closet. Subsequently, the remains of three more infants were found hidden in the attic.
Brent Flanigan, the landlord, had evicted Mauthe from the Cadogan Township property last month due to rent arrears. Mauthe had never paid the rent directly, instead, she had convinced local churches to cover her rent. After her eviction, Flanigan and a worker visited the property on September 13 to clean up, as Mauthe had reportedly left several cats behind. It was during this visit that they stumbled upon the horrifying discovery.
Flanigan recounted the gruesome scene, stating that they found a bag wrapped in several garbage bags and tied tightly. The smell was unbearable, and upon opening the bag, they found towels covering something decomposing. Flanigan and his worker used a stick to peel back the towels, revealing the decomposed remains, which they quickly realized were not those of an animal.
The coroner was called to the property and confirmed that the bag contained the remains of a deceased infant. This led to the involvement of the state police, who conducted a thorough search of the property, resulting in the discovery of two more dead infants in the attic. The Pennsylvania State Police confirmed the discovery of a fourth infant’s body in the house on Thursday.
During her interview with the police, Mauthe admitted to giving birth to all four children in her bathroom, with the first birth occurring approximately six years ago. According to the criminal complaint, Mauthe claimed that she passed out on top of the first child after giving birth, and when she regained consciousness, the child was dead. She alleged that the second child was stillborn, and she confessed to intentionally killing the third child about a year ago after giving birth on the toilet. The fate of the fourth child was not mentioned in the complaint.
Authorities stated that Mauthe, a mother of two other children, never sought medical attention for any of the infants and did not contact law enforcement following their deaths. The Indiana County Coroner’s Office is currently conducting autopsies on all four bodies recovered from the property. Mauthe is being held in the Armstrong County Jail without bond and is scheduled for a preliminary hearing on September 30.