A middle-aged mother was seen denying she had anything to do with the 1997 murder of a baby dumped by a statue – before suddenly slumping into her chair and confessing that she was indeed to blame for the terrible crime.
Keri Mazzuca, 52, looked like a respectable, polished member of the community as she was interviewed over the death of the infant, named Baby Moses after his body was found under a Moses Statue in Albany’s Washington Park.
But she cracked on being shown a photo of Moses’ burned remains and suddenly declared: ‘I did it.’
The net finally began to close in on Mazzuca last summer thanks to advances in DNA technology.
She was brought in for police questioning in September 2024, with jaw-dropping footage of what happened next released to the public earlier this week.
Mazzuca is seen being questioned by two detectives about the death of Baby Moses.
She sits in a swivel chair with a relaxed posture, gesticulates calmly with her hands while denying involvement in the Baby Moses case.
Asked by Detective Rob Lawyer there was anything she could think of that could help identify who killed Baby Moses, Mazzuca answers: ‘No.’
For years the the death had stumped investigators, until local woman Keri Mazzuca was pulled in for questioning last September and confessed to the baby being hers
After being shown a picture of the remains, circled here, Mazzuca recoils at the image
She then adds: ‘Because they have all those, like, safe places,.’
‘Thats what we’re trying to wrap our head around,’ Lawyer adds.
‘No idea.’ Mazzuca says.
But Mazzuca’s facade finally cracked when Det. Lawyer showed her photos of Baby Moses’ remains and implied that DNA evidence had proven she was the infant’s mom.
‘I did it.’ Mazzuca answered.
‘You did it?’ Lawyer asked.
‘I did it.’ Mazzuca repeated.’
Asked what happened, she finally bared her soul of a 28 year-old secret.
‘I got pregnant. I had the baby. I gave birth in my bathtub; the baby died. I didn’t know how to get rid of it.’
The remains of the newborn were found under the Moses Statue in Albany’s Washington Park in 1997
She continues: ‘I put it in a towel, in my car. I carried it out like it was groceries.’
Mazzuca told officers that she had given the remains of the baby to a stranger in the park and had not been responsible for burning them.
The detective tells her: ‘Keri that doesn’t make sense. You did not hand this baby to a random person. That didn’t happen.’
She then confesses to also setting the baby on fire, saying: ‘It was dead. It was dead.’
The detective pushes back on her story, saying an autopsy carried out discovered that the baby had been breathing telling her the boy didn’t die of natural causes.
Mazzuca can then be heard confessing that she suffocated the child by putting him in a bag, saying she couldn’t remember if she had smothered him.
In February she pleaded guilty to a manslaughter charge and was sentenced last month to 25 years in prison, news10 reported.
Prosecutors said that Mazzuca, who was 25 at the time, smothered the child before taking him to the park and setting it on fire. She is seen here in court earlier this year
The tiny victim was laid to rest in a white casket at Graceland Cemetery
Prosecutors said that Mazzuca, who was 25 at the time, smothered the child before taking him to the park and setting it on fire.
Prior to her sentence being handed down, Mazzuca addressed the court saying: ‘I did a horrible, unimaginable thing and I live with remorse and regret
‘I am a great mom. I’ve lived a law-abiding life, and I hope you use your discretion to go toward the lower end.’
FBI researchers had been able to identify one of the child’s relatives a few years ago after analyzing its DNA.
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The genetic evidence led investigators probing the death to Mazzuca’s doorstep. At the time of the death she had lived just a few blocks from the park.
DNA from trash outside her current address confirmed that a woman inside was Baby Moses’ biological mother, officers had said.
The horrifying scene of her child’s final resting place was discovered by park workers in 1997: A partially charred blue pillowcase with burned matches scattered on top.
When they nudged the bundle with a shovel, it revealed the lifeless body of a newborn baby boy.
The shocking discovery sparked a manhunt that would last nearly three decades. As leads went cold, the city of Albany refused to let ‘Baby Moses’ be forgotten.
They even ‘adopted’ the infant, naming him Moses Washington after the park statue near where he was found.
He was laid to rest in a white casket and his grave was marked by a headstone topped with a marble lamb, the epitaph reads: ‘Citizen of Albany, child of God’.