STORY: "Jury trial of "Geauga's child' begins Monday," by reporter Julia Bingel, published by Fox 19, on March 28, 2022.
GIST: "The trial for Gail Ritchey, the mom accused killing her newborn son in March of 1993, is scheduled to begin with jury selection Monday in front of Geauga County Court of Common Pleas Judge David Ondrey.
Ritchey was arrested in June 2019 and charged with murder and aggravated murder, after DNA linked her to the crime.
According to Geauga County Sheriff deputies, Ritchey gave birth to the baby, put him in a bag and dumped him in the woods in Thompson Township.
“Over 26 years ago Gail Eastwood Ritchey left her biological child for dead. To this day, even-though she admitted her involvement she show absolutely no remorse and take no ownership of the baby,” said Geauga County Sheriff Scott Hildenbrand.
Geauga County residents paid for a funeral and gravestone for the baby they called “Geauga’s Child” and still visit his grave.
In 1994, Ritchey married the father of the baby and they have three additional children.
She remains out on bond.”
The entire story can be read at:
https://www.cleveland19.com/2019/10/01/trial-mom-geaugas-child-continued-january-5/
------------------------------------------------------------------------
NEONATICIDE: "Neonaticide is the deliberate act of a parent murdering their own child during the first 24 hours of life."
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Read excellent Mother Jones story for background: "Does Gail Ritchey belong in prison? For 26 years she carried a dark secret about a young pregnancy; Now genetic genealogy has turned her life upside down," by Ariel Ramchandani, published by 'Mother Jones' on March 24, 2022.
GIST: (In part): Neonaticide, and child murder more generally, is an unimaginably horrible crime. It prompts a visceral reaction; just hearing about it can make your stomach turn. There are few crimes where the perpetrator and the innocent victim, a newborn, are quite so clear. But neonaticides are in fact quite complicated, and a closer read may ask us, as Kennett does, to consider that there can be more than one victim in these crimes—both the baby and the mother. For many mothers, the crime is rooted in her difficult circumstances; many of these women face cultural, social, psychological, and religious factors that make them feel as if it would be impossible to be pregnant, let alone raise a child. So they conceal and sometimes even go into denial about the pregnancy, according to Susan Hatters-Friedman, a forensic and reproductive psychiatrist. The pregnancy causes many of these women extreme psychological stress. The mother may deliver and then abandon or kill the baby in secret—hoping desperately that no one else knows.
So when the knock comes at their door 20 or 30 years later, they have to grapple with what a very much younger version of themselves had done and what it means now for them and their family. This kind of confrontation with the past can have unintended consequences. In 2019, law enforcement approached a woman in Pueblo, Colorado, about a newborn who had been abandoned in the Arkansas River in 1996. A few days later, she died of suicide. Authorities tested her DNA and confirmed that the baby was her child.
The US criminal justice system is not equipped to deal with these nuances and complications. Unlike several other countries, the United States has no special legal provisions for women who commit infanticide. But perhaps more importantly, the system does little to grapple with the critical questions that are provoked by these cases, questions I encountered repeatedly in my reporting: Should law enforcement be pursuing them, knowing the person they are looking for is almost always the mother? Is this a legal matter—or a psychological one? Are these cases a legitimate and ethical use of genetic genealogy, let alone police resources? And finally, what is the goal of sending someone like Gail, who went on to have a family and contribute to her community, to prison? Research shows that most of these women go on to lead productive, law-abiding lives. "
https://www.motherjones.com/crime-justice/2022/03/gail-ritchey-neonaticide-trial-geauga-county
-----------------------
PUBLISHER'S NOTE: I am monitoring this case/issue. Keep your eye on the Charles Smith Blog for reports on developments. The Toronto Star, my previous employer for more than twenty incredible years, has put considerable effort into exposing the harm caused by Dr. Charles Smith and his protectors - and into pushing for reform of Ontario's forensic pediatric pathology system. The Star has a "topic" section which focuses on recent stories related to Dr. Charles Smith. It can be found at: http://www.thestar.com/topic/charlessmith. Information on "The Charles Smith Blog Award"- and its nomination process - can be found at: http://smithforensic.blogspot.com/2011/05/charles-smith-blog-award-nominations.html Please send any comments or information on other cases and issues of interest to the readers of this blog to: hlevy15@gmail.com. Harold Levy: Publisher: The Charles Smith Blog;
