Detroit mother sentenced to 9 to 20 years for suffocating newborn found in garbage can

Glencetta Gloster-Washington pleads guilty to second-degree murder

DETROIT – A Detroit mother was sentenced Thursday morning in the death of her newborn daughter after the baby girl was found in a garbage can.

Glencetta Gloster-Washington, 39, pleaded guilty to second-degree murder.

Gloster-Washington gave birth to the baby girl at her home in the 3500 block of Yorkshire in Detroit. Family members of Gloster-Washington discovered her bleeding and the baby's father took her to a hospital for treatment on March 26, 2017.

Flencetta Gloster-Washington at her arraignment on murder charges in the death of her newborn baby in Detroit. (WDIV)

ORIGINAL REPORT: Newborn baby girl found dead in trash bin behind Detroit home

Hospital staff determined that the woman had recently given birth. Police went to Gloster-Washington's home where they discovered the remains of the newborn in a garbage can. The baby's father, 40, told authorities he didn't know his wife gave birth to the child.

She was originally charged with first-degree murder and concealing the death of an individual.

The mother's attorney asked for leniency, calling the death tragic and calling into question the mental health of Gloster-Washington. 

"The fact of the matter is that this baby went to the morgue without a name, smothered by her mother, left in a garbage can," the prosecutor responded.

Gloster-Washington’s is a mother to five other children and was an employee of the U.S. Postal Service for 14 years.

“I just want to say that I’m sorry for everything that happened and I didn’t mean for none of this to happen,” Gloster-Washington said at sentencing.

Gloster-Washington was sentenced to 9 to 20 years in prison.