4th Dead Baby Found In Woman's Home After Her Eviction, Horrifying New Details Revealed

In a press release on Thursday, Pennsylvania State Police announced that "during the course of the investigation, four (4) remains of infants were discovered within a bedroom and attic of the residence." Following autopsies, the original charges against Jessica Mauthe, 39, were withdrawn -- before she was charged with 1 count criminal homicide, 1 count involuntary manslaughter, 4 counts of concealing the death of a child and 4 counts of abuse of a corpse.

She was arraigned on Thursday and denied bail.

According to a criminal complaint via The Tribune-Review, Mauthe allegedly said she gave birth to the first child six years ago, before passing out on top of the baby and waking up to find it lifeless. She allegedly said she welcomed two other children at different times in her bathroom, with the first making no noise, determining it was deceased. Another she said she gave birth to on the toilet, per police, and could hear it making noises. She allegedly told police she then took the baby from the toilet and wrapped it in a towel, "where it remained until it stopped making noises." She then put the baby in the trash bag and placed it in the upstairs bedroom closet where property owners later found it.

She allegedly never sought medical attention or reported their deaths.

A Pennsylvania woman has been charged with criminal homicide and abuse of a corpse, per ABC affiliate WTAE, after her former landlords found three dead infants inside the home she used to live in.

State police were called to a house in Cadogan Township in Armstrong County just after 3 p.m. on Saturday after the property owners reported finding a dead baby inside.

They told authorities that they had evicted Jessica Mauthe, 39, on August 14, per the Leader Times, and were in the process of cleaning up the home when a foul odor emanating from a closet led to the shocking discovery inside a trash bag.

Investigators proceeded to check the whole house, where they made two additional discoveries in the attic, as detailed by CrimeOnline. In one tote, they reported recovering another infant's body, this one wrapped in a towel inside a trash bag. A second tote purportedly had a third infant body wrapped in a towel and placed in a bucket inside a trash bag.

When police interviewed Mauthe, she allegedly confessed to giving birth to one of the babies about a year ago, according to the probable cause affidavit seen by CBS affiliate KDKA. She said she gave birth on the toilet, per police, and after leaving the baby there for several minutes, and could "hear the child making several noises."

Police said she told them she then took the baby from the toilet and wrapped it in a towel, "where it remained until it stopped making noises." She then put the baby in the trash bag and placed it in the upstairs bedroom closet where the property owners later found it.

She then allegedly told them she also gave birth two more times while living at the house, and placed those bodies in totes in the attic. It was not clear how long those bodies had been stored there, with Penn Live only reporting they were older than the baby found in the closet.

It was also not immediately clear how those additional babies had died, with District Attorney Katie Charlton telling PennLive on Monday that their causes of death remains under investigation, which is why Mauthe has only been charged with one count of homicide. "Additional charges will be filed if appropriate," she told the outlet.

Mauthe had two other children, with a neighbor telling KDKA that several people in the neighborhood had babysat those boys on multiple occasions and never knew their mother was pregnant.

"Shocked. No one believed it. It's just evil. It's beyond sick," she said of the infant deaths. "How could she do that, three times? You don't just plop babies in toilets."

"My heart goes to all of the babies because that’s just not right," another neighbor who had watched the boys told NBC affiliate WPXI. "She just seemed like a normal person, a struggling single mom, she didn’t seem like anything out of the ordinary, so it’s kind of just crazy."

"Her support system was minimal, and I think she loved her boys," a third neighbor told KDKA. "I feel she tried the best she could for them. I can't speak for the negativity that happened."

Of Mauthe's older children, the neighbor said the community was helping by "giving them structure. They needed structure. They needed love. They needed hugs. If they needed to eat, we fed them."

The Leader Times reports that Mauthe's preliminary hearing has been scheduled for September 23 in Ford City. She is being held in the Armstrong County Jail without bail.