A Missouri woman lied and told police she had given birth to stillborn twins, but later admitted that she neglected them and they starved to death.
Maya Caston, 28, was tried for murder. The trial concluded on Friday, January 24.
The St. Louis County woman was accused of refusing to care for her babies after she gave birth to them alone in a bathroom in her home. She was charged with second-degree murder in the death of her babies, but the jury found her guilty of lesser charges. After a four-day trial, the jury returned to the courtroom with the verdict that Caston was guilty of second-degree involuntary manslaughter and two counts of misdemeanor child endangerment in the second degree.
Caston testified in court that she gave birth to her twins on January 6, 2020 alone in the bathroom of her home in the Spanish Lake area.
She told the jury that she hid her pregnancy for months and didn’t know that she was pregnant with twins. When she birthed them in the toilet, she wrapped them in towels, and took them to her bedroom.
She said she was shocked and did not know how to care for the babies.
Caston said that three days after giving birth, she decided to give them up for adoption, but by the time she was ready, the infants had died from starvation. She had not nursed them since they were born.
The neglectful mother called 911 and a hospital and told them that she had given birth to stillborn babies. She later admitted to the police that she lied.
During an investigation, detectives found some damning evidence that Caston had searched the internet to find out how to induce an abortion and cause a miscarriage, several months before she gave birth.
Prosecutors argued that her internet searches and failure to feed the babies and get them care proved that the accused was responsible for the newborns’ deaths. Her many internet searches included “cheap abortion pills” and if someone can cause a miscarriage by punching someone in the abdomen.
About 24 hours after giving birth, she searched how to bury a baby in a garden.
In his closing arguments, the Assistant Prosecuting Attorney, Thomas Dittmeier, said that Caston did not want the children, neglected them, and didn’t even bother to name them.
Caston’s lawyers presented the defense that the woman was mentally impaired and did not understand the risks to the twins.
