Inset: Anuradha Manukonda (Plain City Police Department). Background: The street where the defendant discarded her stillborn daughter in Plain City, Ohio (Google Maps).
An Ohio woman will avoid prison after her infant daughter was found dead in a trash can, authorities recently announced.
In August, Anuradha Manukonda, 27, pleaded guilty to one count of gross abuse of a corpse.
Late last week, she was sentenced to 90 days in jail and five years of community control, or probation, by Madison County Common Pleas Court Judge Eamon Costello.
The Plain City Police Department remarked upon the resolution of the case in a press release, saying the defendant was "finally sentenced for the only crime that could be proven."
The investigation began when the discarded child was found on June 16, 2023, "in the back of a garbage truck" on Bluestem Lane in Plain City — a small town some 20 miles northwest of Columbus.
"Our community was saddened, shocked, and devastated at the discovery," the police department said. "She was named Madison Baby Doe and a funeral service, attended by over 100 people, was held soon after to memorialize and honor this precious baby girl."
As the "extensive and exhaustive investigation" continued, detectives turned their attention to a residence on the same street where the child was found "thrown into the garbage like other household trash," according to the police department's press release.
Law enforcement said they used a combination of "forensics and high-tech DNA collection and analysis, tireless and relentless investigations, and a little bit of luck" to identify the suspect after determining she sometimes visited the Bluestem Lane home in question.
Manukonda's attorney said she was visiting family at the residence when she delivered a stillborn baby there, according to a sentencing memorandum obtained by The Columbus Dispatch.
The defendant was not aware she was pregnant until the birth occurred that day due to a medical condition that affected her reproductive system, the defense memo said.
The woman's attorney said she ultimately panicked and placed the infant in the garbage.
At the time of the discovery, law enforcement said they would be unable to pinpoint the child's cause of death.
"With the final chapter written, our community now has a degree of closure," the police department said. "Two dates on the calendar, separated by 1240 days, shows our unwavering commitment to Madison Baby Doe and our community. We will always remember that horrific day in the summer of 2023 and we will NEVER forget Madison Baby Doe."