Woman Gave Birth In Her Car, Charged With Leaving Newborn To Die

A 21-year-old woman from South Carolina was arrested Monday in connection with the death of her newborn child, Lexington County Sheriff’s Department said.

Brennan Hailey Geller gave birth inside her car Friday night and failed to provide proper medical care to the child which led to its death. According to the release, Geller placed the baby in a trash bag and put it on the floorboard before driving away. She was charged with homicide by child abuse, the press release said.

Police learned about the incident when Geller went to a local hospital for medical care for herself. They soon obtained a warrant charging Geller on Monday.

“We became aware of this tragic case after Geller was treated at the hospital Saturday morning for blood loss,” Lexington County Sheriff Jay Koon said. “The medical team caring for Geller told investigators she never told them the baby was in her car.”

He added the newborn was found inside the vehicle several hours later.

The South Carolina woman had graduated from River Bluff High School in 2015 and had no prior criminal records in the state. Her mother, Julie Brennan Geller, works in the field of health care.

According to her Facebook profile, Geller worked as a server in an Italian restaurant called Travinia Italian Kitchen & Wine Bar and at the MUV Fitness in Lexington.

Both Geller's and the Sheriff’s pages on Facebook were flooded with comments from people expressing their anger, while some talked about the about the "Safe Haven" policy in South Carolina for unwanted newborns.

“And to think i was friends with her… I didn’t even know she was pregnant,” one person who went to the same school as Geller wrote.

“Wait, did she go to River Bluff?! This is absolutely disgusting! She deserves life! Poor baby. There are parents out there that WANT to be parents!!”, another person said.

One woman commented that she had not known that Geller was pregnant. “I can’t believe this. I’m like shook to the core. …Known her since grade school and never thought in a million years she would do this. I feel so horrible for the baby and the dad. I wonder if he even knows …” she said.

Though the comments seem to point that Geller kept her pregnancy a secret from people, the police have not confirmed anything about that.

Geller is currently being held in the Lexington County Detention Center. The exact date of her bond hearing is yet to be revealed. According to South Carolina law, she could be sentenced to 20 years to life in prison if convicted.

In an unrelated incident, a Pennsylvania woman was charged in July with homicide after her 11-month-old baby died due to a lethal combination of drugs which was transmitted through the mother’s breast milk.

The autopsy report revealed that the baby died on April 2 due to a combination of methadone, amphetamine and methamphetamine. According to reports, Samantha Jones was prescribed methadone for her addiction to painkillers. She continued to take it during and after pregnancy as well.

Her bail was set at $3 million cash. The district attorney’s office said a preliminary hearing will be held on Aug 29.