ALBANY — More than a quarter-century after a child was left for dead in an Albany city park, its mother was arrested on Saturday morning and charged with second-degree murder, according to Albany Police. 

Keri Mazzuca, who lives on Ostrander Road in Guilderland, was taken into custody and charged with second-degree murder, concealment of a human corpse, and tampering with physical evidence, according to Albany Police.

“On Sunday, September 7, 1997, at approximately 7:15 a.m., officers responded to the area of the Moses statue in Washington Park for reports of a deceased baby,” a police press release states. “Upon arrival, officers located a deceased baby boy who had been discarded.”

Following further investigation, years later, the release states, “detectives from the Albany Police Department worked closely with the New York State Police, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and the Albany County District Attorney’s Office to confirm the identity of the baby’s mother.”

The release states that Mazzuca, now 52, was arraigned in Albany County Court on Monday afternoon and remanded to Albany County’s jail.

Megan Craft, the public information officer for the Albany Police Department, told The Enterprise she could not offer any more information other than what was released. 

It wasn’t until three years after the baby’s body was found in Washington Park that the state of New York, in July 2000, adopted the Abandoned Infant Protection Act, which now allows a parent to abandon a newborn baby up to 30 days of age anonymously and without fear of prosecution if the baby is abandoned in a safe manner. A hospital or staffed police or fire station are examples of safe and suitable choices.