Teen mom who left Baby Mary to die in New Jersey park on Christmas Eve 1984 was living ordinary suburban life with husband and kids when she was tracked down and arrested – now she’s in jail

The teenage mother who left Baby Mary in a New Jersey park on Christmas Eve 1984 was living an ordinary life with her husband and sons in South Carolina before police caught up with her last year.

Catherine Crumlich, now 57, was just 17 years old when she left the one-day-old baby near a stream in Mendham, Morris County, with the umbilical cord still intact.

The death was ruled a homicide after the medical examiner determined the baby was alive when Crumlich wrapped her in a towel and placed her in a plastic bag.

The little girl was baptized by a local priest, the Rev. Michael Drury of St. Joseph Church, who named her “Mary,” and the case made national headlines.

The case was cold for forty years. In September last year, prosecutors made the bombshell announcement that they had tracked down Mary’s parents using DNA linked to the then 19-year-old father.

He was deceased, but the mother, Crumlich, was very much alive and living with her family.

Crumlich was convicted of manslaughter last week and has been sentenced to one year in prison.

Her Facebook documents the life she lived under the name Catherine Snyder-Crumlich after moving with her new family and settling in the suburb of Columbia, South Carolina.

Photos show her happily posing with her husband, David, and sons, Zachary and Noah.

Crumlich was the picture of a loving mother, attending her sons’ high school baseball games and weddings and later babysitting her grandchildren.

She started working at a specialty store called The Crescent Olive, where she was pictured grinning with colleagues around Christmas 2018.

But her good life came to an end when she was sentenced to a year in prison last week after pleading guilty to manslaughter.

This came a year after Morris County prosecutors filed a juvenile delinquency complaint, leading to her arrest in South Carolina.

Researchers used modern DNA analysis to track down Baby Mary’s parents, but her father, who was 19 when she was born, had died in 2009 before he could be identified.

Prosecutors say there is no evidence the man was aware of his daughter’s birth or death.

Crumlich entered her guilty plea on February 28. The Morris County Prosecutor’s Office said the manslaughter charge would have been considered a second-degree felony if it had been committed by an adult.

On April 3, Judge Michael Wright sentenced Crumlich to 364 days in the Morris County Correctional Facility, followed by two years of probation.

The ruling marked an end to a case that had been at a standstill for decades.

It happened forty years after Baby Mary was discovered by two boys on Christmas Eve morning. The medical examiner determined that she was less than 24 hours old at the time of her death.

In her mother’s absence, the community ensured that Baby Mary would be cared for.

She was buried in the church cemetery and given a headstone with a Bible quote: “I will never forget you, I cut you in the palm of my hand.”

Father Drury continued to hold a graveside service for the child every Christmas Eve.

In a news release, Morris County Prosecutor Robert Carroll praised the tireless work of police and investigators that led to the identification of the little girl’s parents.

“For the past nearly four decades, researchers have vigorously investigated every clue to identify Baby Mary and learn more about the circumstances that led to her discovery in the woods,” he wrote.

“This posture has been years in the making, through generations of law enforcement officers who have demonstrated a relentless commitment to justice for Baby Mary.”

Speaking to the Bergen recordMendham Township Police Chief Ross Johnson said he was relieved the mystery was finally over.

“I’m proud that we can finally bring justice to a girl who was needlessly left in the woods on a cold winter night,” Johnson said.