Deputies say the baby girl was born alive at a home on Florida Park Drive and was later found buried in the backyard.
PALM COAST, Fla. — A 20-year-old college student was being held Friday after Flagler County deputies said she gave birth to a baby girl at her Palm Coast home, left the newborn in a toilet as the child cried, and later buried the body in a shallow grave in the backyard.
Investigators said the case began before dawn Friday, when someone who had received messages from Anne Mae Demegillo called for help and told authorities she had secretly been pregnant, had given birth and had done something to the baby. Deputies went to the home on Florida Park Drive for a welfare check, interviewed Demegillo and found the infant buried under a few inches of dirt. Authorities said Demegillo was being detained on an aggravated manslaughter charge as detectives continued to interview witnesses and collect evidence.
Chief Deputy Joseph Barile said investigators believe Demegillo gave birth sometime during the night Thursday, March 5, at the home near Florida Park Drive and Forest Hill Drive. According to deputies, Demegillo said she had gone to the bathroom with cramps, delivered the child in the toilet and did not know before then that she was pregnant. The baby girl was alive and crying after birth, Barile said, but Demegillo told detectives she walked away. “It appears she watched the baby die,” Barile said at a Friday news conference. Investigators said Demegillo later wrapped the infant in a towel, put the body in a duffel bag and hid it in a closet. After that, deputies said, she left home, attended classes at Daytona State College and took part in a theater performance before returning later that night.
Authorities said the body was buried around 10 p.m. Thursday in a corner of the backyard at the family home. The infant weighed 3 pounds, 6 ounces and measured 18.7 inches long, according to the sheriff’s office. Deputies said the grave was shallow, with the baby covered by only about 4 to 5 inches of dirt. Barile said the sheriff’s office began piecing together the timeline after a person who had been in contact with Demegillo called for a welfare check. Detectives said Demegillo led deputies to the burial site after officers arrived at the house shortly after 4 a.m. Friday. Her mother was home at the time of the birth, according to investigators, though authorities have not publicly said whether she knew what had happened. Detectives also said Friday that they still needed to interview Demegillo’s father and the person who contacted law enforcement, leaving several parts of the timeline under review.
The case quickly drew attention across Flagler County because of both the age of the suspect and the details investigators described. Sheriff Rick Staly said the baby had not been named and said the agency was trying to speak for a child who, in his words, “never had a chance.” He also said the case should not become a trial by public opinion before prosecutors complete their review. The sheriff’s office first described the situation Friday morning as a suspicious death at the home, where crime scene tape blocked part of the property while detectives and forensic investigators moved in and out of the yard. By afternoon, officials had publicly identified Demegillo and said the evidence so far pointed to abandonment rather than an overt assault. That distinction matters because investigators said the current charge reflects their preliminary findings that the child was born alive and then left without care. Authorities said the investigation remains active and that additional evidence, including medical findings, could affect the case.
Under Florida law, aggravated manslaughter of a child is a first-degree felony. Deputies said Demegillo was being held pending that charge Friday while the case moved toward formal review by the State Attorney’s Office, which will decide what charges to file in court. Investigators said they are still gathering statements, reviewing messages sent before the welfare check and waiting for the results of standard post-death examinations and related records. Authorities have not publicly identified the baby’s father and said Friday that even he may not have known about the pregnancy. They also have not said whether Demegillo had any recent medical care connected to the pregnancy. The sheriff’s office noted that Palm Coast has a safe-haven option for newborns, but officials said their focus in this case is the sequence of decisions after the child was born alive. No court hearing details were immediately released Friday afternoon, and jail processing and medical evaluation were still part of the next steps described by investigators.
By late Friday, neighbors and local residents were left trying to understand how such a case could unfold inside a family home in a quiet Palm Coast neighborhood. Crime scene units worked around the yard as television helicopters and news crews gathered nearby. Staly said the facts described by investigators were hard even for veteran deputies to hear. Barile, speaking to reporters, laid out the timeline in measured detail, saying Demegillo “went about her normal daily routine” after hiding the baby’s body. That account, along with the messages that triggered the welfare check, became central to the first public explanation of the case. Even so, officials said there were still unanswered questions about what people in the home knew, when they knew it and whether anyone else may have seen warning signs before the birth. For now, the sheriff’s office has said only that there is no threat to the wider community and that detectives will keep working through interviews and forensic evidence.
The case stood Friday evening with Demegillo in custody, the newborn’s death under active investigation and prosecutors expected to review the file after detectives finish more interviews and receive medical findings. The next major public step is likely a court appearance or a formal charging decision in the days ahead.
Author note: Last updated March 6, 2026.