Stacy Michelle Rabon (Herald Online screenshot)
A 50-year-old woman in South Carolina may spend the rest of her life behind bars for brutally killing her newborn daughter more than 30 years ago, suffocating and stabbing the little girl more than 50 times, then stuffing the child's body into a plastic Sears shopping bag, and discarding it in a river.
Circuit Court Judge Bill McKinnon on Wednesday ordered Stacy Michelle Rabon to serve a maximum sentence of life in prison for the 1992 slaying of the newborn baby members of the community dubbed "Angel Hope," authorities confirmed to Law&Crime.
A jury in York County earlier this month found Rabon guilty of one count of homicide by child abuse in her daughter's death. The jury was hung on the charge of murder.
Despite the life sentence, Rabon will be eligible for parole after eight years because the crime took place in 1992 and is therefore subject to the state's sentencing laws for homicide by child abuse as they were at the time the crime was committed. As such, she will have the opportunity to be released from detention after serving a minimum of 10 years.
As Rabon has remained in custody since her August 2021 arrest, she was credited with two years of time served, thus making her eligible for parole in 2031, according to the York County Solicitor's Office.
But the sentencing restrictions did not stop Judge McKinnon from telling the court that he believed Rabon deserved to spend the remainder of her days behind bars, according to a report from The Herald Online.
"A newborn comes into this world looking for its parents to protect it," McKinnon reportedly said during Wednesday's hearing. "This baby was stabbed more than 50 times."
Testing showed that Angel Hope also had cocaine in her system at the time of her death.
Rabon, who did not testify in her own defense during the trial, addressed the court for the first time on Wednesday as well.
"I made very poor choices when I was young. I know what I did more than anybody," Rabon reportedly said. "Because I cared." Rabon reportedly also asked the judge to show her "mercy" when handing down the sentence.
As previously reported by Law&Crime, an 18-year-old man swimming in the Catawba River on Aug. 12, 1992, came across a "Sears shopping bag" floating in the water between Rock Hill and Fort Mill. Inside the bag, the man discovered the body of an hours-old baby who appeared to have been stabbed to death. The newborn's body had been wrapped in a sheet.
But as leads in the investigation dried up, the case went cold and remained that way for decades. However, investigators in 2019 recovered DNA evidence from the sheet used to wrap the newborn before she was tossed into the river. That DNA led back to Rabon, whose DNA was in a national criminal database due to a previous conviction for drugs, prosecutors said.
Upon questioning, authorities said Rabon admitted to giving birth to a baby girl inside a van on Aug. 12, 1992, but claimed that she gave the newborn to a couple for adoption.
After Wednesday's hearing, prosecutors told journalists that they believe Rabon simply made up that story to try and avoid prison time, per the Herald.
The case had a significant impact on the surrounding area, with community members eschewing the typical "Jane Doe" moniker for the unidentified child, instead naming her Angel Hope. Angel was buried at the Forest Hills cemetery with community members footing the bill for ceremony and burial expenses, Charlotte, North Carolina, CBS affiliate WBTV reported.
Rabon, who was represented by the 16th Circuit Public Defender's Office, has 10 days to file an appeal of the sentence. The public defender's office did not immediately respond to a message from Law&Crime seeking comment.