LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) — A woman pleaded guilty to voluntary manslaughter Thursday in a nearly 40-year-old cold case in southern Indiana.
Alexandra Gewant pleaded guilty in a Dubois County courtroom as part of a plea agreement, according to a news release. Gewant was sentenced to six years of supervised probation. She was originally charged with murder as well, but under the agreement, it was dropped down to voluntary manslaughter.
"The mother chose to accept responsibility for her actions and pled guilty pursuant to the agreement," said Dubois County Prosecutor Beth Schroeder.
Gewant will serve her probation at home in Tennessee, and she has been ordered to take a mental health assessment, according to her plea agreement.
The deceased baby was found in a trash can at Marian Heights Academy, a Catholic boarding school at Monastery Immaculate Conception in Ferdinand, Indiana, in 1987. At the time, Gewant was a student living in a dorm. The prosecutor's office said the conception "did not occur in Dubois County and was unrelated" to the school.
In February, the identification of the baby was discovered due to advances in DNA technology.
The child's mother, who was 17 at the time of the birth, was previously charged with murder and voluntary manslaughter. Authorities noted the pregnancy was "unintended."
"While the legal process moves forward, officials have emphasized the need to approach this case with sensitivity and compassion," Schroeder said in a release in February.
Schroeder said Thursday incarcerating the mother for decades would not achieve justice as some have called for in the case.
"We must never lose sight of the child whose life was lost," Schroeder said in a release Thursday. "That child deserved dignity, recognition, and remembrance. Nothing about this resolution diminishes the value of that life."
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