Baby June: Indian American Woman Arrested for Dumping New Born Baby in Florida Four Years Ago
- Arya Singh, 29, of Boynton Beach was arrested on Dec. 14, for disposing of her daughter, who she thought was born dead, two days after her birth.
An Indian American woman has been arrested in Florida on a first-degree murder charge for dumping her newborn girl child in the Boynton Beach Inlet four years ago. Arya Singh, 29, of Boynton Beach was arrested on Dec. 14, and is being held without bond, the Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office announced in a June 15 press conference.
Authorities spent years trying to identify the infant, known as “Baby June” because her body was found on June 1, 2018. She was located by an off-duty Boynton Beach firefighter. The case was handled by cold case detectives after investigations went nowhere. Brittany Christoffel, the lead detective on the case, said at the press conference that in conjunction with the sheriff department’s forensic lab, she used “a public genealogy database to find the infant’s father, who the department has neither named nor pressed charges against.”
“Baby June” was alive at the time Singh placed her in the water, Christoffel said at the press conference, adding that she died by drowning. She also mentioned her conversation with Singh after her arrest when she told her that she believed the baby was born dead. She said she didn’t know she was pregnant until she delivered the baby in the toilet of a hotel bathroom on May 30, 2018. She allegedly put the baby in a backpack and left the backpack in her car while she attended a class at Florida Atlantic University. After the class, she dumped the baby’s body.
The baby’s father told detectives that Singh informed him during the summer of 2018 that he had gotten her pregnant, but she’d “taken care of it,” which he assumed meant she’d had an abortion.
The baby’s father told detectives that Singh informed him during the summer of 2018 that he had gotten her pregnant, but she’d “taken care of it,” which he assumed meant she’d had an abortion. He told the detectives that since Singh refused to speak more about it, he eventually stopped asking. The Palm Beach Report, citing Singh’s arrest report, said Singh and the baby’s father met as students at Santaluces High School in Lantana.
Elaborating on the search leading to Singh’s arrest, Christoffel said Singh’s location data placed her at the lifeguard stand at the Boynton Beach Inlet at 9:35 p.m. on May 30 — two days before “Baby June” was discovered. She left the area in about half an hour, at around 10:06 p.m., Christoffel said. It was also discovered that Singh searched local news for days and the month after, and even when she did see the first articles on June 1, she didn’t come forward, Christoffel added. She has no other children and no criminal history,
Until recently Singh worked as a security guard at Lynn University in Boca Raton. “We were shocked to learn about the charges against Ms. Singh and have ended her employment,” a spokesperson for the university wrote in an email to The Palm Search Report.
Meanwhile, Singh’s attorney, Michael Salnick, “declined to comment” after the Dec. 15 proceedings, the report added. Singh is scheduled to appear next in court on Jan. 17.