Arrest video released of mother who confessed to 1993 killing of ‘Geauga’s Child’

GEAUGA COUNTY, Ohio (WOIO) - The Geauga County Sheriff’s Office announced an arrest in the cold case murder of “Geauga’s Child,” a dead baby found abandoned in Thompson Township 26 years ago.

Investigators took 49-year-old Gail Eastwood-Ritchey, of Euclid, into custody Thursday afternoon for charges of murder and aggravated murder.

On Friday, authorities released the video of Eastwood-Ritchey’s arrest.

According to Geauga County Sheriff Scott Hildenbrand, the baby boy was found abandoned by two newspaper delivery drivers on March 25, 1993 in the middle of Sidley Road.

Detectives say Eastwood-Ritchey, who has three grown children, admitted to giving birth before abandoning the newborn in the wooded area.

“To this day, even though she admitted her involvement, she shows absolutely no remorse and takes no ownership of baby doe,” Sheriff Scott Hildenbrand said during a press conference on Thursday.

Eastwood-Ritchey, who was linked to the crime through advanced familial DNA testing, also admitted to detectives that she committed a similar crime two years prior to the birth of Geauga’s Child in Cuyahoga County.

That case is still under investigation.

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