Forensic scientist explains DNA technology linking Baby June’s mother to crime; mother denied bond

BOYNTON BEACH, Fla. (WSVN) — Arya Singh, the mother of a newborn baby found dead in the ocean off Boynton Beach, appeared in court one day after her arrest.

Cameras captured the 29-year-old as she entered the courtroom in handcuffs, Friday afternoon. A judge denied her bond.

Baby June, a name created by detectives on the case, was found in the Boynton Beach Inlet four and a half years ago.

“It was gut-wrenching to all of us and to the community as well,” said Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office Capt. Steven Stavelli.

“I guarantee you, when you see an infant floating in the ocean that someone has discarded like a piece of trash, it tugs at your heart,” said Palm Beach County Sheriff Ric Bradshaw.

Detectives said Singh tossed the baby into the water hours after she gave birth to her in a hotel room, on May 30, 2018.

“She had the baby in a hotel room bathroom. She didn’t know that she was pregnant until she saw that the baby had come out,” said PBSO detective Brittany Christoffel. “She said the baby landed in the water.”

After she gave birth, Singh told detectives, she kept the baby in a backpack, believing she was dead, and even kept the backpack with her as she attended a class at Florida Atlantic University.

According to the arrest report, the baby was born alive and died of asphyxia or suffocation.

“She said that when the baby was born, she wasn’t sure if the baby was alive or dead. By the time the baby went into the inlet, she was already deceased,” said Christoffel.

Minutes after tossing her newborn baby, detectives said, Singh searched online. The arrest report states she typed “What lives in the Boynton Inlet” at 9:45 p.m. and “Why is the Boynton Inlet so treacherous?” a minute later.

Detectives said Singh continued to search online weeks later, reading or clicking on 64 Baby June news articles.

“She did see the first articles on June 1st, about 5 p.m., and so she did know about that. She’s never come forward in all this time,” said Christoffel.

With little information, cold case detectives did everything they could to find Baby June’s family and eventually her killer.

That’s where new DNA technology came in.

Julie Sikorsky, PBSO’s forensic science supervisor, said they decided to try the technology for the first time, and it paid off.

“It was used to solve the Golden State Killer case, out in California, so we wanted to bring that technology here in Palm Beach County,” said Sikorsky. “We went onto a site called Family Tree DNA, and we actually uploaded Baby June’s profile.”

The team built out a family tree.

“You reverse engineer it. You find that common relative. You build the tree up to, say, a grandparent, great-grandparent, or great-great-grandparent,” said Sikorsky, “and then you look at all of the tree branches, and you might have to build a few down and find some that actually fit to where might be potential parents for Baby June.”

They found a match to Baby June’s father, who had no idea about the baby or what had happened, but he did say he had a girlfriend at the time.

“We decided to just build this case against the mother without notifying her at all,” said Christoffel. “We were able to get search warrants for phone records, for GPS data location. We were lucky to even get that from four and a half years ago.”

Detectives were able to obtain a coffee cup that Singh had used. They looked at her DNA for it, tested it, and it was a match for Baby June.

When they arrested her, the mother later confessed to the disturbing crime.

Authorities hope this case will be the first of many they will be able to solve using this new DNA technology.

“When I was a working detective, you were lucky if you got fingerprints. Then you were lucky of somebody could match them up,” said Bradshaw, “so it’s a whole new world as far as technology is concerned and science.”

Singh is being held at the Palm Beach County Main Jail.

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