An Ohio woman whose newborn daughter’s body was found in a garbage truck more than three years ago has been sentenced to 90 days in jail and five years of probation. Anuradha Manukonda, 27, was sentenced on November 6 in Madison County Common Pleas Court after pleading guilty to gross abuse of a corpse, a fifth-degree felony, according to Local 12.The infant girl, later named “Madison Baby Doe” by the community, was discovered by garbage collection workers in the back of a truck in Plain City, Ohio, in June 2023.Manukonda’s attorney told the court that she did not know she was pregnant and believed the baby was stillborn when she delivered her while visiting relatives in Plain City. According to the defence, she panicked following the delivery and placed the newborn in a garbage can.
Garbage collectors who found the baby were traumatized; they quit their jobs
Prosecutors said the discovery had a profound impact on the two garbage collection workers who found the baby’s body.“They quit their route. They quit that job. There was a group of Plain City residents who actually put together gift baskets for the two men … because they were so traumatized and the residents felt so bad about what they went through,” one prosecutor said.The judge also addressed the impact of Manukonda’s actions, saying: “The impact that you had on people went so far beyond what you could have been thinking at the time that you made those decisions.”Investigators faced difficulties determining how the infant died. An autopsy found extensive injuries, including fractures and lacerations, but the damage caused by the garbage truck’s compactor and the delay in discovering the body made it impossible to establish the cause or time of death.Authorities said there was no evidence to establish that the baby’s death was a homicide.Manukonda was identified as the child’s biological mother through DNA evidence. Investigators collected samples from discarded items, including a beer bottle and a cotton swab, which helped link her to the baby.She was indicted in March 2025 and pleaded guilty in August 2026.Following the discovery, Plain City residents named the unidentified infant Madison Baby Doe and organized a funeral and burial for her.