Woman charged with murder for death of infant in 1986
Police: Advances in genetic testing, investigative work led to arrest
GREENWICH — The arrest in a cold-case murder of a newborn infant who was allegedly killed by his mother in 1986 was the culmination of advances in genetics testing, thousands of hours of investigative efforts and old-fashioned police work, authorities said Friday.
Janita M. Phillips, 62, of Lake Mary, Fla., a former Greenwich resident, was arraigned Friday on a murder charge in Superior Court in Stamford.
Crime-lab forensics was allied with gritty detective work, according to court filings, as a Greenwich police detective searched through trash near the suspect’s home in Florida to find cotton swabs, cigarette butts and water bottles to send to the lab. Harvesting DNA from those discarded bits of household trash led investigators to solidify the case against Phillips, and establish her connection to the young victim, who was named “Baby John” by Greenwich police.
Baby John was found in the trash compactor of a garbage truck at 27 Havemeyer Place, an apartment building operated by the Greenwich Housing Authority that stands across the street from Greenwich Police Headquarters, on the morning of May 16, 1986. The medical examiner later determined the baby had been strangled.
At a press conference Friday, police said Phillips, who was a 26-year-old mother of a young child at the time, was deemed a “person of interest” and interviewed.
“However,” said Deputy Chief Robert Berry, “the investigation at the time was inconclusive, and no suspects were positively identified. As time went by, emerging forensic testing allowed for a new examination of physical evidence.”
Berry said Phillips had kept her pregnancy a secret from her family. Court documents state that her husband, Jerry, was unaware she had given birth in their Greenwich apartment until police confronted him at the
couple’s Lake Mary home in September, according to search warrant application.
Janita Phillips was working at Saks Fifth Avenue on Greenwich Avenue at the time, according to court papers, and her husband was working as a fashion designer, custom tailor and suit-maker. The two moved to Florida after the death of the baby in 1986, and the case went cold.
Greenwich Police Chief James Heavey cited the “herculean” efforts of the lead detective in the case, Detective Christy Girardi, as well as numerous other investigators who worked on it over the years. New advances in genetic testing gave police a lead on Phillips, who had been living with her husband in Florida.
Her defense attorney, Lindy Urso, said Janita Phillips had lived “a stellar life” since 1986 and held a job in the insurance industry for over 30 years.
Girardi and a Seminole County Sheriff's Deputy staked out the Phillips home in June 2020, according to the affidavit, and went through the couple’s trash to gather genetic material. DNA from a discarded Q-tip confirmed Phillips was the mother of the baby, the affidavit stated. Genetic material from a water bottle confirmed Jerry Phillips was the father, according to the court filing.
Later, Girardi and a Seminole County investigator told Jerry Phillips he was the father of a deceased infant, and he “appeared in shock,” the warrant application stated.
According to the court filing, “Janita explained that after her first son’s birth, Jerry told her he didn’t want any more children.” She told investigators that “she never got big” while pregnant, the affidavit reads. “This can’t be happening” was her recurring thought, the filing says,
until the night she gave birth in their apartment.
“I just remember I didn’t plan for this,” Phillips told investigators during the Florida interview, the affidavit said.
The affidavit said she told authorities she never touched the baby or really looked at him because that would make the situation “real.” She said she hid the pregnancy, never told anyone she could have been pregnant, did not seek prenatal care and was in denial, according to the affidavit.
Court hearing
Phillips went to police headquarters and turned herself in on an arrest warrant Friday and was charged with murder. The arrest warrant was granted Wednesday.
Phillips was initially held on $50,000 bond, but she was released on a promise to appear in court following her arraignment Friday in state Superior Court in Stamford. Her release comes with a stipulation that she must check in with the Bail Commissioner’s Office once a week.
State’s Attorney Paul Ferencek supported the decision to release Phillips without bond, saying the state doesn’t view her as a flight risk. He said that since the alleged homicide, Phillips has lived “a blameless life” with no criminal record.
Defense attorneys Lindy Urso and Stephen DeLeo, who are representing Phillips, expressed gratitude that the state “showed empathy” for their client and agreed to her release.
Phillips had raised two other children — one of whom was born before the infant who was killed, and a stepson who she raised as her own, according to Urso, saying she had led “a stellar life.”
But since her arrest, Phillips has been in a “tenuous spot psychologically,” Urso said.
“Anyway you cut this pie, it’s a very, very tragic situation. She’s had to live with this grief for 35 years, and now it’s obviously dredged up again,” Urso said.
After Friday’s arraignment, DeLeo said he believes the story of what happened 35 years ago goes beyond what police wrote in Phillips’ arrest affidavit.
“There is more to the story here, and it will come out over future court proceedings,” DeLeo said.
Urso said he was “hopeful” that an agreement could be reached with state prosecutors, “something amenable to both sides,” that would stop the case from going to trial.
Phillips is next scheduled to appear in court on Jan. 26.
Building a case
The affidavit said a towel found with the baby matched a towel seen in Phillips’ apartment, according to witnesses.
Last year, the police department’s Cold Case Unit used newly available forensic testing to link physical evidence found at the 1986 crime scene to the mother of the dead child, police said. As they further investigated, police said the unit worked with law enforcement officials in Florida to confirm the identity of the child’s mother as Phillips.
“Today we begin to get closure on the death investigation of an infant child, many years ago,” Chief Heavey said during Friday’s press conference. “While today’s arrest will not bring back that child, it does bring recognition that his precious life had meaning, and that he will not be forgotten.”
The affidavit indicated her husband, and the father of couple’s then-2-yearold son, had no knowledge or involvement in the homicide.
“We are grateful that justice is finally being obtained for this infant child of our community,” Berry said. “The investigation of his tragic death has taken many long years, but he has always been remembered and we hope this conclusion will bring him peace and recognition.”