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

The teenage mother who abandoned Baby Mary in a New Jersey park on Christmas Eve 1984 lived 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 by a creek in Mendham, Morris County, with the umbilical cord still intact.

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

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

For 40 years, the case was cold. Then last September, prosecutors released the bombshell announcement that they had traced Mary’s parents using DNA linked to the then 19-year-old father.

He was dead, but the mother, Crumlich, was alive and well and living with her family.

Crumlich was convicted of juvenile delinquency last week and has been sentenced to a year in prison.

Her Facebook captures the life she led under the name Catherine Snyder-Crumlich after moving and settling in suburban Columbia, South Carolina with her new family.

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

Crumlich was the picture of a happy mother who attended her sons’ high school baseball games, weddings and later babysat her grandchildren.

She started working at a specialty grocer called The Crescent Olive, where she was pictured laughing with colleagues around Christmas time 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 that led to her arrest in South Carolina.

Investigators used modern DNA analysis to trace Baby Mary’s parents, but her father, who was 19 at the time of her birth, had passed away in 2009 before he could be identified.

There is no evidence that the man was aware of his daughter’s birth or death, according to the prosecution.

Crumlich pleaded guilty 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 the end of a case that had gone cold for decades.

It happened 40 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 saw that Baby Mary would be cared for.

She was laid to rest in the cemetery and had a tombstone inscribed with a Bible quote: ‘I will never forget you, I have carved you in the palm of my hand.’

Father Drury continued to hold a graveside service for the infant 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.

“Over the past nearly four decades, investigators have doggedly pursued every lead to identify Baby Mary and learn more about the circumstances that led to her discovery in the woods,” he wrote.

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

Talking to Bergen RecordMendham Township Police Chief Ross Johnson said he was relieved the mystery had finally come to an end.

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