Mom enters plea in baby’s death
A Spring Township woman pleaded no contest Thursday morning to the third-degree murder of her 6-month-old daughter, whom police said she and the baby’s father killed before hiding her body in a plastic garbage bag covered by cat litter.
Samantha M. Trump, 29, entered an open plea before Berks County Judge Patrick T. Barrett.
In pleading no contest, Trump acknowledged prosecutors could prove their third-degree murder case, but she did not admit guilt.
She also entered an open, no-contest plea to concealing the death of a child.
The open pleas mean there is no sentencing agreement with prosecutors.
Trump did not make any statements beyond answering Barrett’s questions, and Berks Assistant District Attorney Meg McCallum did not comment other than to present details of the case.
Trump was returned to Berks County Prison to await sentencing.
Police said early in 2018 that Trump and Shaun C. Oxenreider, 27, killed their daughter, Harper Oxenreider, in Lincoln Park Apartments and Townhomes, where they lived together.
Police found Harper’s body in a storage container in a crawl space of the apartment in March 2018.
Oxenreider also was charged with criminal homicide and related counts, and remains in the county prison without bail awaiting trial.
According to court documents:
On March 19, 2018, police were called to investigate a child welfare case.
A relative of Oxenreider’s had called authorities with concerns about what happened to Harper, whom the couple had told people had died of natural causes.
Police spoke with Berks County Children and Youth Services, which also investigated the case and said the couple appeared suspicious.
The agency contacted local hospitals, funeral homes and the Berks coroner’s office, none of which had any records related to Harper’s death.
The couple also couldn’t produce a death certificate, and said they’d be out of town for several weeks spending time with family in New Jersey.
But police found the couple was home, and went to the residence with Children and Youth Services representatives.
The couple wouldn’t allow them in, but while Trump was inside the home speaking with officers outside, she collapsed and began to convulse into seizures. Officers entered the apartment to assist her and EMS personnel drove Trump to the hospital.
Inside the apartment officers spoke with Oxenreider and asked him where Harper’s urn was. He produced two containers that were later found to contain home decor items from a discount store.
Oxenreider agreed to let police search his home for areas that could possibly hold a child. Officers found a locked bathroom door, opened it and found photos of Harper, used diapers and baby clothing inside.
They opened a door next to the bathroom that contained a closet and a crawl space, where they found a plastic storage container.
The container was full of cat litter with a trash bag sticking out. Oxenreider said police could open the bag, and an officer cut it open to find what appeared to be the back of a child’s head.
An autopsy showed it was Harper’s body, and that she had a skull fracture, multiple rib fractures, a broken arm and multiple bruises on her trunk and abdomen.
The examining doctor said those injuries were caused by repeated episodes of squeezing and blunt impacts indicative of prolonged abuse.
He ruled the cause of death as head trauma, and estimated she died around Jan. 1, 2018.
The investigation showed that Trump was the girl’s primary caretaker, though Oxenreider would also share parental responsibilities such as bathing her.
After Harper’s body was found, District Attorney John T. Adams said one of the couple’s relatives said they’d heard numerous stories from Oxenreider about what happened with the baby and who paid for funeral expenses.
The couple had another child that was referred to Children and Youth Services following their arrests, and Trump was pregnant at the time. Further details were unavailable.