Pennsylvania mother arrested after police make horrifying discovery in closet
Bodies were found wrapped in towels and plastic bags in closet and attic of Ford City area home
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A Pennsylvania woman has been charged after police discovered the remains of her four infants in the closet and attic of a home she had been evicted from last month.
Jessica Marie Mauthe, 39, was arrested after her former landlord called police to the home she had lived in outside Ford City, about 40 miles northeast of Pittsburgh.
The landlord, Brent Flanigan, told WTAE-TV that he had law enforcement evict Mauthe for nonpayment on Aug. 14.
After he began cleaning the home, he came across a trash bag in a closet that had a foul odor and something wrapped in towels that was decomposing, according to the arrest affidavit issued Thursday.
The exterior of a house is shown in the Freeport area of Pa., Friday, Sept. 19, 2025 where Jessica Marie Mauthe, the woman facing a charge of homicide and multiple counts of abuse of a corpse, lived. (Massoud Hossaini/Pittsburgh Tribune-Review via AP)
Investigators searched the home and found the bodies of three other infants in the attic in tote bags, wrapped in towels and inside plastic bags, police said.
“Shocked. No one believed it. It’s just evil,” neighbor Carmen Felix told WTAE-TV. “How can you plop babies in the toilet? The girl across from here is a nurse, and she’s sick. She almost didn’t go to work today because she can’t get this off her mind.”
Mauthe’s former landlord said he discovered the corpse of one infant in a closet while cleaning out the home earlier this month. (Massoud Hossaini/Pittsburgh Tribune-Review via AP)
About a year ago, Mauthe told investigators, she gave birth to a child who made several noises before she held the child “against her, where it remained until it stopped making noises and stopped breathing,” police wrote.
Mauthe told troopers that one newborn had whimpered after she gave birth to it about six years ago, after which she passed out on the floor, according to the affidavit. When she awakened, the baby was beneath her and was not breathing, she told them.
Pennsylvania State Police have investigated the incident. (AP Photo/Aimee Dilger)
Mauthe was charged with criminal homicide, involuntary manslaughter and multiple counts of abuse of a corpse. She is being held in the Armstrong County Jail without bail.
Pennsylvania woman charged after 4 dead babies found in home, sources say
By Madeline Bartos, Jennifer Borrasso, Shelley Bortz
Updated on: September 15, 2025 / 11:39 PM EDT / CBS Pittsburgh
An Armstrong County woman is facing charges after sources told KDKA-TV that four dead infants were found in her house.
According to a previously released criminal complaint, 39-year-old Jessica Mauthe told police that while she was living at a home on Oak Lane in Cadogan Township, she gave birth three times. Police said she admitted to investigators that each time she gave birth, she wrapped the infants in towels, put them in bags and hid their bodies.
State police said they were called to investigate on Sept. 13 after a dead baby was found inside a vacant home. Police said the property owner told them Mauthe had been evicted, and while cleaning up, the property owner found a trash bag in a closet with a foul odor. The coroner was called and confirmed that there was a dead infant inside, the criminal complaint said.
As police continued to investigate, they said they found two totes in the attic, with dead babies inside each of them.
When police interviewed Mauthe, she allegedly told them that she gave birth to the first baby about a year ago in her bathroom while sitting on the toilet. According to the criminal complaint, she said the baby remained in the toilet for several minutes and she could hear it making noises. Police said Mauthe told them she took the baby from the toilet and wrapped it in towels “until it stopped making noises.” Then she put it in the closet.
Police said Mauthe told them she gave birth to two more babies while she lived at the house, and she admitted to putting their bodies in the attic.
Autopsies were performed on Sunday. Investigators are waiting for a full report from the medical examiner’s office.
“Very sick. Very disgusted. Sad for the two that are left behind, the living children. No words,” Ford City’s Elizabeth Germy said.
Germy helped the landlord search for three days for several cats left behind after Mauthe was evicted.
To know she was so close to those dead babies repulses her. She also remembers a smell upstairs in the bedroom.
“It smelled very funny. It didn’t have a very potent smell when we first went in, but upstairs in the one specific bedroom, it did smell funny,” Germy said.
“It’s just evil,” neighbor says
On Monday, a cleanup crew was working to erase the horror left behind. Neighbor Carmen Felix said the whole neighborhood is in shock.
“It’s just evil. It’s beyond sick,” Felix said.
“How could she do that, three times? You don’t just plop babies in toilets,” Felix added.
KDKA-TV learned Mauthe has two other children, ages 6 and 8.
Felix lived near Mauthe for years and watched her two other children on numerous occasions. He said he didn’t even know Mauthe was pregnant.
“It’s a close-knit community. Everybody watches out for each other. Them two boys of hers, the whole neighborhood babysat them,” Felix said.
As investigators search for a motive, many are wondering about the future of those two children.
Another neighbor who didn’t want to be identified said she often watched the boys and fed them.
“Her support system was minimal, and I think she loved her boys,” the neighbor said. “I feel she tried the best she could for them. I can’t speak for the negativity that happened.
“Giving them structure. They needed structure. They needed love. They needed hugs. If they needed to eat, we fed them. And we did that.”
State police will work to obtain search warrants for things like Mauthe’s medical records and plan on interviewing her friends, coworkers, and her incarcerated husband later this week.
Mauthe is facing one count of criminal homicide, and officials say more charges are expected.
