Brianna Moore is an alleged teen killer from Florida who has been charged with the murder of her newborn
According to police reports Brianna Moore gave birth on the campus of the University of Tampa and would then dispose of the newborn. Her roommates would call campus security and report that they had heard a baby crying. When security showed up they reported finding blood in the bathroom however Brianna would tell them that it was from her period
The next day the discovery of a newborn in a trash bag would be discovered and reported to police. Brianna Moore would tell police that she did not know she was pregnant when she suddenly gave birth to the newborn. She claimed the newborn cried once then went quiet and when she checked for a pulse several minutes later she did not find one and disposed of the newborn
An autopsy of the newborn would reveal several cracked ribs and a lung hemorrhage. Brianna Moore would tell police she held the newborn tightly until it stopped crying.
Brianna Moore would be charged with aggravated manslaughter of a child, child neglect with great bodily harm, failure to report a death, and unlawful storage and preservation of human remains
Brianna Moore News
The former University of Tampa student accused of killing her newborn child will be able to leave jail if she posts bonds of $262,500, a judge decided Friday.
After an hourlong court hearing, Hillsborough Chief Judge Christopher Sabella denied a request from prosecutors that Brianna L. Moore be held in jail while she awaits trial.
While noting that Moore is accused of a dangerous crime, the judge found that the state had not proven that she poses a danger to the community or that she was a flight risk.
“This is a very difficult case,” Sabella said. “It’s difficult because of how sad this case is and how egregious this case is.”
The judge ordered that if Moore bonds out of jail, she must remain in Hillsborough County while she awaits trial. She must wear a GPS ankle monitor so authorities can track her movements
A prosecutor mentioned that the 19-year-old was expelled from the university after the baby’s death in April, but a university spokesperson later clarified that she wasn’t expelled, but did not reenroll. Although she lives in Mississippi and has no ties to Tampa, the judge said her defense can ask permission from a different judge for her to return home
She is accused of aggravated manslaughter and other charges related to the baby girl’s death.
Brianna Moore shuffled into court with chains at her wrists and ankles, her long hair draping a red uniform emblazoned with the words “Hillsborough County Jail.” She gazed down through eyeglasses, avoiding the attention of news cameras as sheriff’s deputies escorted her to a defense table.
She sat quietly beside a public defender as Assistant State Attorney Lindsey Hodges presented testimony from Tampa police Detective Juan Ramos about the circumstances surrounding her daughter’s birth and death.
Brianna Moore attended the university on a biology scholarship. She lived at the time in a room in McKay Hall, with a view of downtown Tampa and the Hillsborough River. She shared her room with another student. They shared a bathroom with two other young women in an adjacent room.
Campus security officers came to the dorm the afternoon of April 27. The three women all reported that they’d heard what sounded like a baby crying in their bathroom between 7 and 9 a.m. At least one of the women said she wasn’t sure if the noise was something she heard in a dream. Someone else said they wondered if it was noise from a video or social media post being played.
“That baby was born alive,” Hodges told the judge. “That baby was breathing. She cried loud enough and long enough for the suite mates and roommates to be awoken by it.”
One of the women got up at about 8 a.m. to get ready for work, court records state. She tried twice to get in the bathroom, but the door was locked. The second time, she heard Moore call out “sorry.”
Shortly thereafter, Moore’s roommate went into the bathroom and saw blood on the floor. The sight was so alarming she took a video of it and sent it to their suite mates.
Two of the women would tell campus security officers that they had suspected for two or three months that Brianna Moore might be pregnant, according to court records. Her roommate sent Moore a text message, asking if she was OK. Moore replied that she was just having a heavy menstruation, the records state, and “wasn’t feeling good this morning.”
They told campus police they were concerned a baby might have been born. Officers searched the area around McKay Hall but found nothing.
The next day, Moore’s roommate was with a friend in the dorm room when they noticed a bloody towel in a trash can, the records state. The friend used a Styrofoam container to touch the towel and felt something hard inside it. The friend then removed the trash bag from the can and brought it outside to look for campus security.
When officers arrived, they opened the bag and found the newborn dead.
Tampa police later interviewed Brianna Moore. She admitted she’d lied to the security officers the previous day, according to court records. She described the child’s birth in detail, the records state. She said she woke up feeling unwell, went to the bathroom and was surprised to find that she was pregnant and in labor. She said she may have been in denial.
She delivered the baby on the bathroom floor. She told detectives she cut the umbilical cord with one of her fingernails.
As the baby cried, she held her tight against her chest, the records state. When the crying stopped, she said she placed the child on a towel.
She took a shower and afterward touched the baby’s chest. She felt no heartbeat. She washed the child, then wrapped her in a towel. She went back into her room, laid the bundle on the floor and went to sleep.
About an hour later, she got up and checked the baby again. She rewrapped her body and placed it in the trash.
A medical examiner found the child had multiple rib fractures along her spine, according to court records. Her cause of death was deemed to be asphyxia. The manner of death was homicide.
In court, Ramos said it would have taken between 45 seconds and four minutes for the baby to die. He said Moore was inconsistent about how long she said she held the child.
Brianna Moore was arrested Oct. 18 in Mississippi and was extradited to Tampa this week.
A future court date has not been set.
