Trial Date Set For Wayne Mom Accused Of Murdering Infant: Report

WAYNE, NJ — A trial date has been set in a nearly decade-old case of a Wayne woman charged with first-degree murder in the death of her newborn baby, according to a report on NorthJersey.com.

Keri Barry, then 22, gave birth to a "full-term" baby Dec. 11, 2009 at her Alps Road home, the Passaic County Prosecutor's Office said in 2011 when she was indicted by a Grand Jury on a first-degree murder charge.

Barry was charged in 2009 for allegedly stuffing her baby into a trash bag after giving birth at home, authorities said. According to the prosecutor's office, an autopsy determined the child was born alive and died of asphyxiation.

Barry was initially indicted in April 2010, but Judge Greta Gooden-Brown dismissed the indictment on the grounds that the "previous grand jurors may not have been fully questioned as to any knowledge that may have read about the case in internet postings that had accompanied online press articles about the case."

Authorities said that when Barry's family learned that something was wrong with her, they took her to Chilton Hospital in Pompton Plains. Hospital staff realized Barry had recently given birth and were concerned about the baby, which could not be located.

Barry reportedly never informed either her family or hospital staff that she had given birth.

Wayne police searched Barry's home, with her consent, and collected garbage bags where the afterbirth was alleged to have been placed, the prosecutor's office previously said.

A Superior Court judge dismissed two key pieces of evidence against Barry in 2018. Judge Joseph Portelli ruled the plastic bag the dead newborn was found in and Barry's laptop computer inadmissible, NorthJersey.com reported, because of the way Loertscher handled the plastic bag and because they were confiscated without a search warrant.

Related:

• Resident Again Indicted on Murder Charge
• Key Evidence Tossed In Case Against Alleged Wayne Baby Killer

Email: daniel.hubbard@patch.com