25-Year Sentence For Baby Chance's Mom

SARASOTA, FL — The 32-year-old North Port woman whose infant son was found buried in a wooded area in October will serve 25 years in prison after entering a no contest plea to aggravated manslaughter charges Wednesday.

Kristen Bury will also have to testify against the baby’s father, Joseph Walsh, who is charged with second-degree murder, Wink News reported. Bury was initially charged with homicide negligent manslaughter in the death of her son, Chance, but a plea deal with prosecutors led to the reduced charge.

Nine-week-old Chance’s body was found in North Port in October. Sarasota County Sheriff’s detectives accused Walsh of beating the infant to death and then leaving his body to decompose in his crib before putting him in a shallow grave dug off Elliot Court in North Port.

The search for Chance began on Oct. 4 when his maternal grandmother contacted the Sarasota sheriff’s office to say she had not seen the then 9-week-old baby since Sept. 9, the sheriff’s office said. She and the boy’s paternal grandmother made a number of attempts to check on the baby’s welfare.

See Also:

• Sarasota County Infant’s Remains Found
• Infant’s Disappearance Shrouded in Mystery
• Baby Chance’s Dad Charged With Murder

Chance’s parents “are longtime drug users,” the sheriff’s office wrote in a media release about the search.

Family members heard from the couple that they had been involved in a car accident in South Carolina. The couple, the sheriff’s office said, provided conflicting reports about Chance in relation to the crash. They told some relatives that Chance was unharmed, but others heard the boy died, the sheriff’s office said. Still another relative was told the baby was given to a woman at a hotel in Georgia.

“Detectives confirmed with South Carolina law enforcement that there was no baby in the vehicle at the time of the crash and no room for a car seat,” a sheriff’s office media release said. “They also confirmed with Georgia law enforcement that the couple stayed at an Augusta hotel but there was no baby with them. A woman staying at the hotel reported that Kristen tried to sell baby clothes to her and that Kristen told her the baby had died three weeks earlier.”

Walsh and Bury were charged with child neglect by the sheriff’s office and were brought into custody in Jasper County, South Carolina.

Bury, the sheriff’s office said, ultimately led deputies to the location where Chance’s body was found in October. Detectives believe the child was killed in September and later buried in the wooded area where his remains were found.

Walsh has entered a not guilty plea, according to Sarasota County court records. No trial date has been set.

Booking photos and photo of Chance Walsh courtesy of the Sarasota County Sheriff’s Office