Bombshell breakthrough in cold case murder of Baby Moses found dumped in flowerbed nearly three decades ago
Police believe they have finally cracked the heart-wrenching ‘Baby Moses’ cold case nearly three decades after the tiny victim was found dumped in a park flowerbed.
Keri Mazzuca, now 52, was arrested on Saturday and accused of murdering her newborn son before heartlessly dumping his body in Albany’s Washington Park 27 years ago in 1997, per The Daily Gazette.
The baby was not even 12 hours old when he was discovered by horrified park workers on a late summer morning that would haunt the city for decades.
Workers planting flowers stumbled upon the horrifying scene: a partially charred blue pillowcase with burned matches scattered on top.
When they nudged the bundle with a shovel, it revealed the lifeless body of a newborn baby boy.
Keri Mazzuca, now 52, was arrested on Saturday, accused of murdering her newborn son and heartlessly dumping his body in Albany’s Washington Park in 1997
The baby, less than 12 hours old, was discovered by horrified park workers on a late summer morning that would haunt the city for decades
The shocking discovery sparked a manhunt that would last nearly three decades.
As leads went cold, the city of Albany refused to let ‘Baby Moses’ be forgotten.
They even ‘adopted’ the infant, naming him Moses Washington after the park statue near where he was found.
The tiny victim was laid to rest in a white casket at Graceland Cemetery.
His grave was marked by a headstone topped with a marble lamb.
The epitaph reads: ‘Citizen of Albany, child of God’.
But justice for Baby Moses was never served – until now.
FBI researchers identified one of the baby’s relatives a few years ago after analyzing the victim’s DNA.
City detectives worked with the New York State Police, the FBI and the Albany County District Attorney’s Office to identify and arrest the baby’s mother.
This genetic evidence led investigators to Mazzuca’s doorstep.
At the time of Moses’ death, she had been living just five blocks from the park.
Then DNA from trash outside Mazzuca’s current Guilderland home confirmed that a woman inside was Baby Moses’ biological mother, police said.
The tiny victim was laid to rest in a white casket at Graceland Cemetery
His grave was marked by a headstone topped with a marble lamb. The epitaph reads: ‘Citizen of Albany, child of God’
Mazzuca now sits behind bars in Albany County Jail, charged with second-degree murder, concealment of a human corpse, and tampering with physical evidence.
Just three years after Baby Moses’ death, New York enacted the Abandoned Infant Protection Act.
This law allows parents to anonymously give up babies 30 days or younger without facing prosecution.
Albany Mayor Kathy Sheehan released a statement recalling the unified ‘shock and disbelief’ felt throughout the community at the time of the murder.
‘I remember the shock and disbelief that was felt throughout Albany when the body of ‘baby Moses’ was discovered,’ Sheehan wrote.
‘I want to commend the hard-working members of law enforcement, particularly within the Albany Police Department, who never gave up on seeking justice in this case. The closure of this 27-year-old homicide demonstrates yet again the incredible dedication of the men and women of APD under Chief Hawkins leadership.’
Mazzuca pleaded not guilty in Albany County Court and is being held without bail. She is due back in court on October 25.
One of the original detectives on the case, Police Sargent Steven Riley, told News 13 that for 27 years he wanted to have a conversation with the suspect to understand what brought her to that point.
‘I’m nobody’s judge – I’m not her judge,’ he said.
