PASSAGE OF THE DAY: "Ritchey, by then a suburban mother of three with a husband, adult children and an entirely different life, was linked to the long-unsolved case known as “Geauga’s Child.” She was arrested and accused of murder. It sounds like the setup for a fairly straightforward true-crime documentary. But it isn’t. In Baby Doe, director Jessica Earnshaw (Jacinta) takes viewers inside Ritchey’s case while forcing them to sit with a series of deeply uncomfortable questions: What if the person accused of something horrific doesn’t fit neatly into our idea of a murderer? What happens when shame becomes so powerful that a person appears capable of denying her own pregnancy? And how should the justice system deal with a woman decades after the alleged crime?
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PASSAGE TWO OF THE DAY: "So what happened to Gail Ritchey? Did she go to trial? Was she convicted? You’ll have to watch the film. Baby Doe debuted at the SXSW film festival and boasts Sarah Paulson as an executive producer. The film will be available on VOD beginning Sept. 17."
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STORY: "She Left Her Newborn in the Woods. 30 Years Later, DNA Led Police to Her Door, by Lauren Conlin, published by Los Angeles Magazine; (Lauren Conlin is an independent crime and entertainment reporter.)
SUB-HEADING: "Baby Doe director Jessica Earnshaw opens up about Gail Ritchey’s shocking cold case…and why the story of a mother accused of murder is far more complicated than the headlines suggest
GIST:Thirty years ago, Gail Ritchey gave birth alone and left her newborn baby in the woods of rural Ohio.
For nearly three decades, no one knew who the baby’s mother was.
Then… DNA changed everything.
Ritchey, by then a suburban mother of three with a husband, adult children and an entirely different life, was linked to the long-unsolved case known as “Geauga’s Child.”
She was arrested and accused of murder. It sounds like the setup for a fairly straightforward true-crime documentary. But it isn’t.
In Baby Doe, director Jessica Earnshaw (Jacinta) takes viewers inside Ritchey’s case while forcing them to sit with a series of deeply uncomfortable questions: What if the person accused of something horrific doesn’t fit neatly into our idea of a murderer?
What happens when shame becomes so powerful that a person appears capable of denying her own pregnancy? And how should the justice system deal with a woman decades after the alleged crime?
Earnshaw told Los Angeles Magazine she actually became interested in those questions before she ever met Ritchey.
Her research began with the case of Emily Weaver, another young Ohio woman whose story appears in the film.
Earnshaw told Los Angeles Magazine she actually became interested in those questions before she ever met Ritchey.
Her research began with the case of Emily Weaver, another young Ohio woman whose story appears in the film.
Weaver was initially sentenced to life without parole before later being resentenced to 20 years for leaving her newborn to die.
As Earnshaw researched Weaver’s case and spoke with attorneys and experts around the country, she began noticing similarities among cases involving young women accused after concealed or denied pregnancies.
“I just found it so fascinating, especially the body’s response to that denial,” Earnshaw said, describing situations in which a pregnancy may not be recognized by the woman herself — or even by people around her.
“I just found it so fascinating, especially the body’s response to that denial,” Earnshaw said, describing situations in which a pregnancy may not be recognized by the woman herself — or even by people around her.
Then she found Gail.
Ritchey’s case had gone cold for 27 years.
By the time investigators came knocking, she was no longer the frightened young woman she had been when the baby was born.
She was a mother and grandmother.
Earnshaw traveled to Ohio and approached Ritchey and her husband, Mark, about filming them. Initially, Gail wanted nothing to do with it.
The media attention surrounding her arrest had already been devastating to her family.
But when Earnshaw told her about Weaver, Gail changed her mind. According to Earnshaw, Ritchey agreed to participate because she hoped telling her own story might somehow help another woman facing life behind bars.
That decision gave Earnshaw extraordinary access to a family trying to understand how the woman they knew could possibly be the same woman described in the criminal allegations against her.
But when Earnshaw told her about Weaver, Gail changed her mind. According to Earnshaw, Ritchey agreed to participate because she hoped telling her own story might somehow help another woman facing life behind bars.
That decision gave Earnshaw extraordinary access to a family trying to understand how the woman they knew could possibly be the same woman described in the criminal allegations against her.
And Baby Doe doesn’t make that easy for the viewer, either.
On a personal level, our own feelings about Ritchey changed repeatedly while watching the film.
On a personal level, our own feelings about Ritchey changed repeatedly while watching the film.
There were moments when I felt sympathy for her and others when I was horrified by what I was hearing. Earnshaw said that evolving reaction was remarkably similar to her own experience behind the camera.
When she first met Gail, Earnshaw said she liked her and immediately sensed that she was carrying an enormous emotional weight.
When she first met Gail, Earnshaw said she liked her and immediately sensed that she was carrying an enormous emotional weight.
Rather than immediately sitting her down for formal interviews, Earnshaw spent roughly three months simply filming around her… watching her interact with her family and observing preparations for trial.
But there were moments that left even Earnshaw scratching her head. Gail could remember certain factual details from decades earlier, she said, while seemingly having almost no access to the emotions surrounding them.
“There’s this whole period of time she’s completely blocked out,” Earnshaw explained. “The details she has, but how she felt about certain things is just not there.”
Slowly, Earnshaw said, the layers began coming off.
“The film is the journey I was on, actually, behind the camera,” she told me.
One of the biggest pieces of that puzzle involved Gail’s religious upbringing and the intense shame she associated with premarital sex.
But there were moments that left even Earnshaw scratching her head. Gail could remember certain factual details from decades earlier, she said, while seemingly having almost no access to the emotions surrounding them.
“There’s this whole period of time she’s completely blocked out,” Earnshaw explained. “The details she has, but how she felt about certain things is just not there.”
Slowly, Earnshaw said, the layers began coming off.
“The film is the journey I was on, actually, behind the camera,” she told me.
One of the biggest pieces of that puzzle involved Gail’s religious upbringing and the intense shame she associated with premarital sex.
Earnshaw came to see denial itself as an important part of understanding Ritchey’s story (not as an excuse for what happened); as a psychological mechanism for avoiding a reality a person feels incapable of confronting.
Ritchey and her husband Mark were and are deeply religious.
This is noteworthy because Baby Doe does not ask viewers to pretend that leaving a newborn alone is anything other than horrifying.
The film asks them to consider whether understanding why something happened matters when deciding how and how severely…someone should be punished.
And then the film drops another bombshell.
During the investigation, Ritchey revealed that “Geauga’s Child” was not the first baby she had delivered alone.
According to Earnshaw, detectives did not uncover that information independently. Gail told them about an earlier pregnancy herself when being questioned initially by police.
She said she had not known she was pregnant until she suddenly gave birth while sitting on a toilet.
Believing that baby was stillborn, she said, she placed the infant in a bag and left it outside a medical building.
Investigators searched for evidence of that child, but Earnshaw said no record was located showing that a dead baby had ever been found outside the building.
Investigators searched for evidence of that child, but Earnshaw said no record was located showing that a dead baby had ever been found outside the building.
That means one of the most startling questions raised by the documentary remains unanswered.
What actually happened to that baby?
“We don’t know anything about this baby,” Earnshaw said. “It was never found, never documented it was a dead baby. Maybe it was alive and maybe that baby is alive today. Who knows?”
The revelation makes Gail’s story substantially harder to process.
What actually happened to that baby?
“We don’t know anything about this baby,” Earnshaw said. “It was never found, never documented it was a dead baby. Maybe it was alive and maybe that baby is alive today. Who knows?”
The revelation makes Gail’s story substantially harder to process.
But another pivotal moment comes when Gail is finally confronted with photographs of the baby at the center of the criminal case.
Earnshaw said she witnessed an unmistakable change.
Before seeing the images, Gail appeared profoundly disconnected from what had happened. Afterward, Earnshaw said, the way she spoke about the child was “completely night and day.”
“She no longer called it an ‘it,’” Earnshaw recalled. “It was a boy.”
Earnshaw said Gail now struggles to discuss the baby without breaking down.
That transformation sits at the heart of Baby Doe.
The film explores pregnancy denial and the complicated medical and psychological questions surrounding it, but it also looks at something much bigger: what happens when fear, religion, sexuality and shame collide?
Earnshaw said she witnessed an unmistakable change.
Before seeing the images, Gail appeared profoundly disconnected from what had happened. Afterward, Earnshaw said, the way she spoke about the child was “completely night and day.”
“She no longer called it an ‘it,’” Earnshaw recalled. “It was a boy.”
Earnshaw said Gail now struggles to discuss the baby without breaking down.
That transformation sits at the heart of Baby Doe.
The film explores pregnancy denial and the complicated medical and psychological questions surrounding it, but it also looks at something much bigger: what happens when fear, religion, sexuality and shame collide?
Particularly for young women who believe there is nobody they can safely tell they are pregnant.
Earnshaw said many of the women she encountered while researching these cases were teenagers or in their early 20s.
“For the girl to be so terrified…if I had nobody in my life I could tell I was pregnant, that is a tragedy to me,” she said. She believes society has to examine its own role in creating that fear.
“These are young people who, if they don’t have anybody they can turn to, that’s completely heartbreaking,” Earnshaw said. “It’s so driven by fear and stigma.”
When she has asked experts how cases like these can be prevented, she said the answer is often remarkably simple: Make sure your children know they can tell you if they’re pregnant.
“No one’s going to be mad,” Earnshaw said. “It’s a safe place.”
The film also brings up very difficult questions about punishment.
Is a woman who concealed a pregnancy and abandoned a newborn someone society needs to hold accountable? Of course. That’s not in dispute.
But what should that accountability look like? And if investigators identify that woman through DNA decades later, when she has built an entirely different life and has never been accused of similar violence since, does putting her in prison for life serve justice?
Those questions become even more complicated when pregnancy denial, mental health, family dynamics and religious shame enter the equation.
There aren’t comfortable answers here. That’s precisely why Baby Doe works.
It doesn’t require viewers to forgive Gail Ritchey. It doesn’t demand that they condemn her, either.
Earnshaw said many of the women she encountered while researching these cases were teenagers or in their early 20s.
“For the girl to be so terrified…if I had nobody in my life I could tell I was pregnant, that is a tragedy to me,” she said. She believes society has to examine its own role in creating that fear.
“These are young people who, if they don’t have anybody they can turn to, that’s completely heartbreaking,” Earnshaw said. “It’s so driven by fear and stigma.”
When she has asked experts how cases like these can be prevented, she said the answer is often remarkably simple: Make sure your children know they can tell you if they’re pregnant.
“No one’s going to be mad,” Earnshaw said. “It’s a safe place.”
The film also brings up very difficult questions about punishment.
Is a woman who concealed a pregnancy and abandoned a newborn someone society needs to hold accountable? Of course. That’s not in dispute.
But what should that accountability look like? And if investigators identify that woman through DNA decades later, when she has built an entirely different life and has never been accused of similar violence since, does putting her in prison for life serve justice?
Those questions become even more complicated when pregnancy denial, mental health, family dynamics and religious shame enter the equation.
There aren’t comfortable answers here. That’s precisely why Baby Doe works.
It doesn’t require viewers to forgive Gail Ritchey. It doesn’t demand that they condemn her, either.
Earnshaw leaves enough room for viewers to be horrified, empathetic, angry and confused… sometimes within the same scene. And that’s intentional.
“What I love about hearing from people who watch the film is just that they have conversations about it,” Earnshaw told me. “We see what’s on the news and it’s just kind of very one dimensional, but these cases are very interesting and very complex, and I think they deserve a conversation.”
After watching Baby Doe, that conversation may be unavoidable.
So what happened to Gail Ritchey? Did she go to trial? Was she convicted? You’ll have to watch the film.
Baby Doe debuted at the SXSW film festival and boasts Sarah Paulson as an executive producer. The film will be available on VOD beginning Sept. 17."
“What I love about hearing from people who watch the film is just that they have conversations about it,” Earnshaw told me. “We see what’s on the news and it’s just kind of very one dimensional, but these cases are very interesting and very complex, and I think they deserve a conversation.”
After watching Baby Doe, that conversation may be unavoidable.
So what happened to Gail Ritchey? Did she go to trial? Was she convicted? You’ll have to watch the film.
Baby Doe debuted at the SXSW film festival and boasts Sarah Paulson as an executive producer. The film will be available on VOD beginning Sept. 17."
The entire story can be read at:
https://lamag.com/crimeinla/she-left-her-newborn-in-the-woods-30-years-later-dna-led-police-to-her-door/
https://lamag.com/crimeinla/she-left-her-newborn-in-the-woods-30-years-later-dna-led-police-to-her-door/
PUBLISHER'S NOTE: I am monitoring this case/issue/resource. 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. 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. FINAL WORD: (Applicable to all of our wrongful conviction cases): "Whenever there is a wrongful conviction, it exposes errors in our criminal legal system, and we hope that this case — and lessons from it — can prevent future injustices."Lawyer Radha Natarajan: Executive Director: New England Innocence Project; FINAL, FINAL WORD: "Since its inception, the Innocence Project has pushed the criminal legal system to confront and correct the laws and policies that cause and contribute to wrongful convictions. They never shied away from the hard cases — the ones involving eyewitness identifications, confessions, and bite marks. Instead, in the course of presenting scientific evidence of innocence, they've exposed the unreliability of evidence that was, for centuries, deemed untouchable." So true;