Make TBO Your Home Page| Subscribe To The Paper| Advertise With Us| Contact Us| Login| Edit Profile| Register
Highlands Today
Email
Print
Landfill Baby Mom Pleads No Contest
ADVERTISEMENT
Published: February 10, 2009
SEBRING - A Lake Placid woman charged with murdering her newly delivered infant child entered into a plea agreement Monday.
Silvia Zanchez, 25, also known as Silvia Sanchez, of 109 Sarasota St., pleaded no contest to a lesser charge of first-degree aggravated manslaughter of a child. She was sentenced to 20 years in Florida State Prison.
A second charge of aggravated child abuse was dropped per the agreement. Since Zanchez speaks Spanish, an interpreter was used during the entire hearing.
"Due to evidentiary concerns, we are entering into this agreement," Assistant State Attorney Steve Houchin said.
Houchin later gave a probable cause affidavit to Judge Peter Estrada, where he said the defendant gave birth to a live child and then caused the infant's death.
"The body was never recovered," Houchin said.
A roommate at the defendant's residence told authorities Zanchez had delivered a baby in her bedroom on the night of Nov. 22, 2007.
The roommate also alleged that Zanchez disposed of sheets, bedding and other unknown items in trash bags that were picked up by garbage collectors on Nov. 23.
An earlier press release from the Highlands County Sheriff's Office stated that Zanchez admitted to delivering a live infant that was later placed in a bag and collected by the garbage company.
The sheriff's office conducted a search at the Highlands County Landfill, where cadaver-detecting dogs from other agencies searched through garbage to try and locate the infant. No body was ever found.
Defense attorney Peter Mills told Estrada there was no objection from the state over the possibility of Zanchez serving her sentence outside of Florida and the United States.
"There is a treaty between the United States and Mexico, I'm told, that permits either a prisoner exchange or a member of one country to serve their sentence in the other country if they are a citizen of that other country," Mills said. "There's no guarantee that that will happen, but there's no objection to it."
Highlands Today reporter Brad Dickerson can be reached at (863) 386-5838 or bdickerson@highlandstoday.com
Email
Print
ADVERTISEMENT
Advertisement
TBO.com - Tampa Bay Online ©2009 Media General Communications Holdings, LLC. A Media General company. Member Agreement | Privacy Statement | Work With Us
