Teens Who Suffocated, Left Newborn In Asbury Park Admit Guilt

ASBURY PARK – Two New Jersey teens pleaded guilty Monday one year after the 18-year-old mother suffocated a baby, and then both left the child in a dumpster, according to the Monmouth County Prosecutor's Office.

Jada M. McClain, 18, and Quaimere Mohammed, 19, both of Neptune Township, pleaded guilty in connection with the March 2019 infanticide in Asbury Park and Neptune Township, Monmouth County Prosecutor Christopher J. Gramiccioni announced.

McClain pleaded guilty to first-degree aggravated manslaughter. Mohammed pleaded guilty to second-degree disturbing or desecrating human remains in connection with the death of the newborn baby, according to the MCPO.

Related: NJ Teens Hid Pregnancy, Suffocated Newborn: Prosecutors

Under the terms of the plea agreement, McClain faces a sentence of 10 years in prison on the aggravated manslaughter charge subject to the provisions of the “No Early Release Act." She must serve 85 percent of the sentence before becoming eligible for release on parole. Mohammed faces a sentence of 5 years in state prison.

The tragedy was discovered on April 4, 2019 when the Asbury Park Police Department received a report that McClain, a student at Neptune Township Regional High School, had recently given birth and that the newborn was deceased, according to the MCPO.

The probe was referred to the Neptune Township Police Department who, together with the Monmouth County Prosecutor's Office Major Crimes Unit, launched an investigation.

The joint investigation revealed that McClain had become pregnant by her boyfriend, Mohammed, a student at Asbury Park High School, sometime in July 2018. McClain said to investigators that she hid the fact that she was pregnant from her parents and that she gave birth to a boy in the early morning hours of March 29, 2019 in her home, the MCPO said.

After giving birth to the child, McClain pressed her hands on the boy's chest until he stopped breathing. McClain contacted Mohammed, and later that morning, the two disposed of the child's body in a dumpster on Monroe Avenue in Asbury Park, the MCPO said.

Investigators later recovered surveillance video which captured Mohammed disposing of the child's body near the Washington Village apartment complex, the MCPO said.

Investigators learned that the contents of the dumpster, including the newborn's remains, were transported to the Monmouth County Reclamation Center in Tinton Falls where they were compacted and buried, the MCPO said.

The infant’s body was never recovered.

McClain and Mohammed are scheduled to appear in Superior Court for sentencing for their crimes before Monmouth County Superior Court Judge David F. Bauman on March 20. McClain remains incarcerated in the Monmouth County Correctional Institution, where she has been detained since her arrest.

“This case is a horrible tragedy. An infant is dead and two young people are going to prison. None of this should have happened. Young persons who are not yet ready for parenthood need to understand that there are safe, legal and completely confidential ways to give up custody of a newborn,” said Gramiccioni.

The case recalls similar horrifying incidents that have happened in the past in New Jersey, sparking the state to create a website, www.njsafehaven.org, that lists places to take a baby.

On Aug. 7, 2000, the New Jersey Safe Haven Infant Protection Act became law. The law allows a parent who is unable or unwilling to care for an infant to give up custody of a baby who is less than 30 days old, safely, legally and anonymously.

All that is required is that the baby be brought to a hospital emergency room or police station in New Jersey. As long as the child shows no signs of intentional abuse, no names or other information is required from the person delivering the baby.