News

Actions

Mother accused of putting baby in dryer denied bond again

Posted at 10:59 AM, Sep 26, 2012
and last updated 2012-12-21 14:04:18-05

HENRICO COUNTY, Va.  (WTVR)  -  Henrico circuit court judge Richard S. Wallerstein, Jr. denied bond today for a Henrico County woman accused of wrapping her newborn baby girl in a plastic bag and putting the infant in a dryer.

Defense lawyer Nikki Clark tried to convince the judge that 39-year old Angela Janecka was not a flight risk, not a danger to society, and that she needed to be home to help take care of another child.  However, Henrico County Deputy Commonwealth’s Attorney Nancy Oglesby argued that the only way Janecka could have done something so shocking was because she "was mentally unstable, or cold, calculating and decisive in terminating the life of a child".  In the end, the judge quickly sided with the prosecution, denying the appeal for bond.

During a hearing earlier this month, 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.

Janecka is charged with attempted murder and felony child neglect. She is due back in court in November for a competency hearing.