COOK COUNTY, Illinois (AP) — A Michigan woman has been charged with murder in the deaths of her newborn twin sons more than 17 years after their bodies were found near Chicago.
Authorities said Saturday that 41-year-old Antoinette Briley of Holland, Michigan, has been charged with two counts of first-degree murder for the deaths of her sons.
The boys’ bodies were discovered on June 6, 2003, by a waste management employee who was emptying trash bins in Cook County, Illinois. Officers say the worker spotted the bodies in the front lift bucket.
“A subsequent autopsy determined the victims were born alive and died of asphyxiation and the deaths were ruled homicides,” said Leo Schmitz, Chief of Public Safety at the Cook County Sheriff's Office, during a press conference.
Using DNA technology, detectives eventually identified Briley as the victims’ potential birth mother.
As part of their investigation, Schmitz says detectives traveled to Michigan and “obtained discarded items with Briley’s DNA,” which was then matched to the DNA of the newborn victims.
On Thursday, officers say they learned Briley was in the Cook County area and took her into custody after a traffic stop in Oaklawn, Illinois. The suspect was transported to the sheriff’s headquarters, where Schmitz says she admitted to the “birth, death, and disposal” of the infants.
