Flythe changes plea to guilty

November 14, 2000

Flythe changes plea to guilty

By STACEY DANZUSO / Staff Writer, Chambersburg

CHAMBERSBURG, Pa. - A Chambersburg woman charged with concealing the death of her stillborn infant daughter earlier this year will be sentenced next month in the Franklin County Court of Common Pleas.

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Autumn N. Flythe, 21, of 144 Hamilton Road, entered a guilty plea this week and will be sentenced Dec. 27, according to the Franklin County District Attorney's office.

Flythe had pleaded not guilty last month and was scheduled to have her case heard during the November trial term, according to court records.

The body of the near full-term baby girl was found May 10 in a trash bin behind the Keystone Car Wash, according to Chambersburg police records. The body had been wrapped in plastic and towels and placed in a backpack, police said.

Franklin County Coroner Jeffrey R. Connor said in July the results of the autopsy were inconclusive because of the advanced state of decomposition, but were not inconsistent with the baby having been stillborn.

Flythe told police she delivered the baby unexpectedly a month before the body was found. She wrapped the body and kept it in her car until placing it in the trash bin shortly before it was found by two boys working at the car wash, according to court documents.

After the body was initially found, the Chambersburg offices of Pregnancy Ministries named her "Baby Grace" and had been planning a service for her until Flythe was identified as the mother.

Flythe has been free on $20,000 bond since the charge was filed, according to court records.

Concealing the death of a child is a first-degree misdemeanor. A conviction on the charge carries a maximum of five years in prison. The law makes no distinction as to whether the child was born alive, or stillborn, according to the Pennsylvania Crimes Code.

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