HENRICO COUNTY, Va. (WTVR) – A judge denied bond for a Henrico County woman accused of wrapping her newborn baby in a plastic bag and putting the infant in a dryer.
Henrico Judge Randall Johnson ruled 39-year-old Angela Janecka should remain jailed – even though he said he did not believe she was a flight risk.
Lawyers from the Henrico County Commonwealth’s Attorney’s office argued Janecka should not get bond because – based on her actions – she was either cold and calculating or a woman suffering from severe mental disabilities who was a danger to herself and others, according to CBS 6 reporter Tracy Sears who sat in on today’s bond hearing.
Janecka’s lawyer argued the mother should be granted bond so she could care for her eight-year-old son.
During Monday’s hearing, new details emerged about the case. Henrico County Deputy Commonwealth’s Attorney Nancy Oglesby said Janecka and her husband traveled to Northern Virginia earlier in her pregnancy to seek an abortion. The doctor denied the couple because Janecka was too far along in her pregnancy for the procedure.
Janecka later convinced her husband the unborn child had died in-utero, Oglesby said in court. Oglesby added when Janecka delivered the child alive on August 25, she put the baby in a plastic bag, tied the bag and placed it in the dryer of her Henrico town home.
Janecka then called her husband and said she had delivered a still-born child. She said a doctor took the baby’s body away and told her husband not to come home from work because she had the situation under control, Ogelsby said.
Janecka’s husband did come home and discovered the child, alive, 15 to 30 minutes following the birth.
The child, a girl, is in good condition and being cared for by Child Protective Services. The couple’s older son is also now in the county’s CPS.
Janecka is charged with attempted murder and felony child neglect. She is due back in court in November for a competency hearing.
