YORK COUNTY, SOUTH CAROLINA: Prosecutors and court documents state that a South Carolina mother could face up to life in prison as a jury found her guilty of homicide by child abuse.
The verdict comes nearly 31 years after the day her infant was discovered dead in a river.
For almost 30 years, the death remained unsolved. The infant's identity was not found until York County Sheriff's Office deputies arrested Stacy Michelle Rabon in 2021.
Police and prosecutors claimed that DNA taken from Rabon following her drug conviction in 2019 matched DNA from the infant.
Who is Stacy Michelle Rabon?
After a weeklong trial at the Moss Justice Center in York, Stacy Michelle Rabon, 50, was found guilty by prosecutors John Anthony and Leslie Robinson of the 16th Circuit Solicitor's Office.
Rabon belonged to Rockhill, South Carolina, and gave birth to the baby hours before she caused her death.
Who is 'Baby Angel Hope'?
Judge Bill McKinnon scheduled the sentencing for August 21, according to the statement from the prosecution.
The community gave the female infant the nickname "Baby Angel Hope" and buried her in 1992 without providing any identification as nothing was known about her, as reported by The Herald.
On Saturday, she would have turned 31. The baby girl was discovered in a river on August 12, 1992. The infant was encased in a plastic bag and covered with a sheet and had therefore died.
What are the charges against Rabon?
Prosecutors in the trial claimed that despite the baby's healthy birth, she had been stabbed and suffocated. During the trial, the prosecution claimed that the child also had cocaine in its system.
Charges for murder and homicide caused by child abuse were brought against Rabon.
According to prosecutors Anthony and Robinson, the 12 jurors unanimously found Rabon guilty of murder by abuse of a child. The prosecutors claim that the jury was deadlocked on the murder charge.
After the trial's opening testimony on Tuesday, the jury deliberated for the majority of Friday. The trial began this week, 31 years after the infant's body was discovered.
What will happen now?
According to South Carolina law, McKinnon, the judge, has the option to sentence Rabon to life in prison for the charge of homicide by child abuse. Prosecutors Anthony and Robinson have not commented about the conviction.
According to court and jail records, Rabon has been detained in the York County jail since her arrest in August 2021 and is still there without a bond while she awaits sentencing.
Rabon could challenge the guilty verdict in the coming days.
