Brianna Moore / Tampa Police Department
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A Florida college student charged with the death of her newborn baby texted about killing the infant girl before she was even born, according to prosecutors.
CourtTV reported July 19 that the prosecutors argue the text messages, found on University of Tampa student Brianna Moore’s phone, prove that she intended to kill her baby. According to the outlet, prosecution filings allege that the messages were part of a September 13, 2023, conversation between Moore and a friend about preventing and dealing with unwanted pregnancies.
The New York Post reported that court records obtained by the Tampa Bay Times state Moore’s friend texted that “plan a” was condoms, “plan b” was the birth control pill, and “plan c was to kill thr [sic] kid.” Moore replied, “plan c is my favorite.”
According to People, Moore, then 19, gave birth to a baby girl in April 2024. Her roommates heard a baby crying and found blood in the bathroom, and authorities found the newborn wrapped in a towel in a dumpster near her dorm room, prompting a police investigation, as CatholicVote reported at the time. WWSB ABC 7 reported in May 2024 that “Police said when they spoke to the woman [now identified as Moore], she told them she didn’t know she was pregnant but may have been in denial. She admitted to not having a period in approximately one year.”
CourtTV reported that an autopsy of the infant revealed that she died from asphyxia due to compression of her torso. Moore was arrested in October 2024 and is currently in jail, according to the outlet. She faces charges of aggravated manslaughter of a child and child neglect with great bodily harm, among others. Her trial was scheduled for July 21 but has been postponed to an undetermined date.
CourtTV reported that prosecutors have asked a judge to consider the texts as evidence in her trial, saying that they “very clearly lay out a willingness to kill a baby if other means of contraception have failed.”
Moore’s attorneys, however, argue that the messages were taken out of context and that a “fair reading of the text message thread reveals that Ms. Moore had a perfectly normal teenage conversation.”
Her defense has also argued that Moore had a “cryptic pregnancy,” a situation in which the mother is not aware that she is pregnant until it is late in the pregnancy or she goes into labor. However, the use of the term is being contested by prosecutors, who argue that a cryptic pregnancy would have to be confirmed by an expert. Her defense, however, argues that a cryptic pregnancy is “a complex phenomenon involving psychological, social and medical aspects” that does not require an expert diagnosis.
