Mother sentenced to 14 years in prison for death of newborn found in Boynton Beach Inlet
The mother of a dead newborn found floating in Boynton Beach Inlet over four years ago was sentenced to 14 years in prison Wednesday after pleading guilty to killing her child.
Arya Singh, 30, pleaded guilty to charges of aggravated manslaughter of a child, a first-degree felony, and abuse of a dead human body, a second-degree felony.
She could have received a maximum sentence of 45 years, 30 years for the first charge and 15 for the second, had a jury found her guilty of the previous charges of second-degree murder.
Singh had told detectives that she had given birth alone, in a hotel bathroom, that the baby girl landed in water, and she thought it had passed out. A day later, she disposed of the body in the Inlet. It was found by an off-duty firefighter. For four years, detectives had no idea who she was or how she had gotten there, so they nicknamed her “Baby June.”
The Medical Examiner ruled that the baby had died by asphyxiation before she was found floating in the inlet, and that she died by homicide.
Singh, a student at Florida Atlantic University at the time, took the baby to the inlet because she didn’t know what to do with her, Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Detective Brittany Christoffel, the lead detective on the case, said after the arrest. When detectives confronted her that day, she was “very nervous,” worried about herself and her future.
Singh was represented in Palm Beach County court Wednesday by defense attorney Greg Salnick.
“This is a tragic and unfortunate situation,” he told reporters as he left the courtroom Wednesday, adding that Singh is happy “this matter is behind her.”
After her sentence, Singh must also serve 10 years’ probation; she received credit for 231 days already spent in jail.
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