FLAGLER COUNTY, Fla. — Flagler County Sheriff Rick Staly explained some steps his investigators took to get upgraded charges for a woman accused of killing her baby girl and then burying her in the backyard.
Anne Mae Demegillo was in court on a first-degree murder charge this morning, one month after she was arrested.
The Sheriff said getting the evidence in this case took about 30 days. He said investigators had to get subpoenas for various social media sites and search warrants for more than one electronic device. But once that happened, the sheriff said it didn’t take long to find the evidence they needed.
We asked the sheriff to explain what in the evidence led to the upgraded charges.
“Well, I think you know, and I am certainly not the attorney, not the prosecutor here but there has to be some premeditation and I think what you find through the searches, through the evidence we uncovered, that she was trying to figure out what to do with a birth and with a child,” said Staly.
Demegillo told detectives she watched her baby girl drown in the toilet and then put her in a duffel bag in her closet. She then went to perform in a play, and when she got home, she buried her baby in the backyard.
Staly said Demegillo was between 34 and 38 weeks pregnant, and that her baby was alive and crying when Demegillo gave birth.
“All indications that we have received that the child could have lived. May have been in the hospital for a little bit because it was a little early,” said Staly.
We asked if the sheriff’s office has been able to find the father, but the sheriff said they have no information on that.
When Demegillo was arrested in March, she told detectives she didn’t know she was pregnant. They later found that she had looked up information about premature babies and the Casey Anthony case.
“And this was not like right before the baby was born or after, this was before and some significant time before that,” said Staly.
Demegillo has also been charged with aggravated child abuse, and failure to report a death with the intent to conceal or alter the evidence.
We asked the Sheriff if he believes this case qualifies for the death penalty.
“I personally don’t see this as a death penalty case, I think it’s w a very tragic case a lot of bad decisions were made by the mother in this case but that’s a decision for the state attorney to decide and we will obviously support whatever he decides,” said Staly.
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