Orosi mother guilty of murdering newborn

Published online on Thursday, Oct. 08, 2009

A Tulare County jury needed only 35 minutes Thursday to find Nancy Ortiz guilty of second-degree murder for wrapping her newborn daughter in a black sweater and then leaving her in the back of a neighbor's pickup in December 2006.

Jurors could have found Ortiz guilty of a lesser charge of involuntary manslaughter, but they were not swayed by her testimony that she abandoned three babies to give them a better life, jury foreman Steven Byer said.

"She did not have the right to stick the baby out there," said Byer, 41, of Visalia. "She had choices."

Ortiz had abandoned two other babies in February 2005 and January 2006, but both were discovered in time and are now living in foster homes.

The jury also found Ortiz, 24, guilty of three felony counts of child abuse for abandoning the three infants and one count of misdemeanor child abuse because her toddler daughter was found in July 2007 wandering the streets, hungry and wearing only a diaper.

Ortiz faces a maximum sentence of 22 years and four months to life, said Shani Jenkins, Tulare County assistant district attorney. Sentencing is scheduled for Nov. 9.

The case, which drew national attention, began when a newborn boy was found in February 2005 on a bench outside an Orosi home. The baby was wrapped in a red-and-white faded sheet, his umbilical cord still attached. The mystery deepened when a second infant, a girl, was found 11 months later in the back of a pickup in the same neighborhood, wrapped in a fleece blanket and wearing a red sweatsuit. But events turned tragic 11 months later when a third baby, another girl, was found dead in the back of a pickup, once again in the same neighborhood.

Prosecutor Janet Wise said during the seven-day trial that overnight temperatures were about 28 degrees the night before the baby's body was found.

Angelita DeOrosi was the name chosen for the dead infant by saddened townspeople.

Orosi residents came together a few months after Angelita's body was discovered to celebrate her life at a funeral organized by law enforcement and community members. She was buried in a donated plot at Smith Mountain Cemetery.

The case spurred a local campaign that featured white bumper stickers urging people not to dump unwanted babies.

A tip led authorities to Ortiz. DNA evidence linked her to all three babies, and she was arrested in July 2007.

Ortiz testified that she hid three of her pregnancies -- she previously had two other children -- because her parents would make her keep any additional children.

Ortiz told a sheriff's investigator that she gave birth to all three children at her family home. Each time, she cleaned up without her parents' knowledge. Ortiz told investigators the third baby seemed sick and wasn't breathing well when she was born.

But a pathologist, who performed the baby's autopsy, said the infant died from hypothermia.

Ortiz lived close to a fire station and could have taken the infant there, Byer said.

"She just got lucky the first two survived," he said.

When asked why Ortiz did not take the newborns to a fire station, Ortiz's attorney, Michelle Winspur, said, "She was young, she was scared and she was on drugs."

Two of the infants survived, and Ortiz thought the third one would also, she said.

Winspur said her client, who cried as the verdicts were read, was "devastated, absolutely devastated."

"She never intended to murder the child," Winspur said.

Ortiz's family and friends did not want to comment after the verdicts.

Winspur said she plans to appeal the verdicts and will ask why a juror left the panel during the morning's deliberations.

Jenkins said a female juror sent a note shortly before noon to Judge Joseph Kalashian, asking to be excused.

"She felt she had already formed an opinion on the case even before hearing all the evidence," Jenkins said.

Byer acknowledged that some heated discussions occurred during morning deliberations about the murder charge. He said the excused juror strongly voiced her opinions, but he did not elaborate.

The jury had to restart deliberations after the juror was replaced, and reached a verdict in 35 minutes, Byers said.