Authorities in Pennsylvania have charged a 39-year-old woman with multiple counts of homicide after the remains of four deceased infants were discovered inside her former rental home in Cadogan Township. The shocking case unfolded after the property owner began cleaning the residence following her eviction.
Jessica Mauthe, who was taken into custody last weekend, now faces charges that include criminal homicide, involuntary manslaughter, and abuse of a corpse. The Armstrong County District Attorney confirmed that investigators recovered the bodies of four infants—one in a bedroom closet and three more hidden in the attic of the home.
The discovery began on September 13, when property owner Brent Flanigan entered the house with a worker to remove abandoned cats. They were immediately met with a foul odor. While cleaning a bedroom closet, they found a tightly wrapped garbage bag.
“The smell was horrendous,” Flanigan later told local station WPXI. “We opened it up, and there were towels in there. My worker and I peeled the towels back with a stick, and we could see there was just rotting, decomposing something in there, and I knew it wasn’t an animal.”
Police were called, and the Armstrong County Coroner confirmed that the bag contained the remains of a baby. A further search of the home uncovered two more infants in the attic. On September 19, the Pennsylvania State Police announced that a fourth child’s body had also been found in the house.
According to a criminal complaint cited by the Tribune-Review, Mauthe admitted to giving birth to all four children in the bathroom of the rental property. She told investigators the first infant died after she passed out on top of it about six years ago. She claimed the second was stillborn and “never made a sound.”
However, police allege that Mauthe confessed to deliberately killing the third infant approximately one year ago. She reportedly gave birth on the toilet and left the baby submerged for several minutes while it made noises. “Mauthe removed the child from the toilet, wrapped a towel around the infant’s entire body, where it remained until it stopped making noises,” police wrote in the complaint, citing WTAE.
The circumstances surrounding the fourth infant remain unclear, as it was not described in the complaint. Authorities confirmed that Mauthe never sought medical assistance for any of the babies and did not alert law enforcement following their deaths.
The Indiana County Coroner’s Office is performing autopsies on all four sets of remains to determine exact causes of death.
Mauthe, who has two living children, is being held without bond at the Armstrong County Jail. She is scheduled to appear in court for a preliminary hearing on September 30.
The grisly case has shocked the Cadogan Township community, raising questions about how the situation went undetected for years. Officials continue to investigate Mauthe’s actions, while the property owner says he is still grappling with the horror of what was found inside the house.
