‘Geauga’s Child’ murder trial pushed to early spring

Two sides file jointly for continuance due to ongoing coronavirus concerns

Concerns over the coronavirus pandemic once again have pushed back the “Geauga’s Child” murder trial.

Concerns over the novel coronavirus pandemic once again have pushed back the “Geauga’s Child” murder trial.

Gail Eastwood-Ritchey, the Euclid woman accused of killing her newborn baby in 1993, is now set to stand trial March 29, 2021, in Geauga County Common Pleas Court. She is facing charges of aggravated murder and murder.

The trial was most recently scheduled to begin Sept. 21, but the Geauga County Prosecutor’s Office and Eastwood-Ritchey’s defense attorney jointly filed a motion Aug. 18 asking Geauga County Common Pleas Court Judge David M. Ondrey for a continuance.

“The chief concern, being the health and safety of all persons associated with the trial, including, but not limited to, court staff, prospective jurors, witnesses, as well as the parties and the public,” the attorneys wrote in their jointly filed motion.

Ondrey on Aug. 20 filed an order granting the motion. In his order, Ondrey said returned juror questionnaires showed “an unusually high number of responses indicate grave concerns serving as jurors due to COVID-19 and many requests for excusal.”

Additionally, Eastwood Ritchey’s attorney, Steven L. Bradley, previously requested the case be moved outside Geauga County due to pretrial publicity concerns. Ondrey deferred that motion until an attempt to seat a jury in Geauga County is made.

Given the defense’s request, Ondrey wrote in his Aug. 20 order he is “especially desirous of obtaining a wide and diverse jury pool for examination to determine if a fair and impartial jury can be impaneled in this county.”

Ondrey set the new trial date for March 29 in an Aug. 25 order, according to court records.

A partially decomposed baby was found in March 1993 by a newspaper carrier along Sidley Road in Thompson Township. Community members named the unknown baby “Geauga’s Child,” and money was raised to give the newborn a funeral and a headstone at Thompson Township’s Maple Grove Cemetery.

Eastwood-Ritchey was charged and indicted in June 2019, more than 26 years after the child was discovered.

Eastwood-Ritchey is out of jail on bond.

NEWS-HERALD FILE Gail Eastwood-Ritchey appears in Geauga County Common Pleas Court for her initial appearance June 10 2019. She is facing aggravated murder and murder charges for the 1993 death of “Geauga’s Child.”