A South Carolina mother will spend 40 years in prison after she skipped the trial where she was convicted of homicide by child abuse for throwing her two newborn babies away in trash bags.
On Thursday, Alyssa Dayvault turned herself in the day after her trial, where she was sentenced to 40 years in prison for each child’s death.
From 2017-2018 she hid her pregnancies from everyone, including her boyfriend and mother. Dayvault then gave birth at her North Myrtle Beach home alone where she put the newborns into a trash bag and threw them away.
“I want to apologize — to my family, especially my daughters. I hope that one day they will be able to forgive me for what I’ve done, ” Dayvault said. “I never meant to do anything. I never harmed anyone. I made a horrible mistake.”
According to prosecutors, Dayvault could not be charged with murder because there was no evidence that she strangled or suffocated her children.
In taped interviews, she told police that her daughter was born with the umbilical cord around her neck and died in November 2017. She then claimed that she had blacked out for at least 15 minutes after giving birth to her son in December 2018 and found him dead when she came to. She said she then panicked and threw the bodies away.
One of the oathologists assigned to the case testified that the baby boy appeared to expel meconium, which is fecal matter that babies have when they are born. The pathologist also added that the infant was alive when the bag was closed, which slowly cut off the baby’s air supply.
The investigation started after Dayvault went to the doctor following her 2018 birth, which caused the tear from labor to become infected. After doctors gave her a blood transfusion, they discovered an undelivered placenta in her uterus, and when she couldn’t account for the baby, the hospital called the police.
On Oct 15, Dayvault’s boyfriend and family spoke to the courts after her trial. They said that they were heartbroken that someone they trusted and loved would lie to them and do such horrible things.
Prosecutors stated that they sought convictions for homicide by child abuse because Dayvault showed extreme indifference to whether her newborns lived or died.
“She certainly showed extreme indifference to the criminal justice system,” prosecutor Scott Hixson said of Dayvault skipping her trial.
Dayvault’s lawyer asked the judge to reconsider the 40-year sentence since she suffers from mental illness and had no criminal record. She will have to serve 34 of the 40 years before becoming eligible for parole.
Judge John refused, emphasizing he was punishing Dayvault for the baby’s death, not for missing court.
He said, “I did not take into consideration in any shape, matter or form the fact he defendant was not present.” He added, “That doesn’t affect the sentence at all. It is the facts and evidence presented.”
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