Jail for Baby in Trunk Mom

45 days in jail, weekends only.

She was 18, pregnant and gave birth alone while family members were in her Delaware County home. Mia Sardella, according to court documents, kept silent about her pregnancy, her birth and the baby boy's body she tucked away in the trunk of her car.

The silence was broken, according to Prosecutors, when Sardella’s mom made a grisly discovery on January 22, 2007. That baby’s body was in a duffel bag and she found him while cleaning out the car.

Her daughter was arrested and charged with murder and intense media attention followed Sardella and her family every time she made a court appearance. 

Then a Drexel University student, Sardella has left the Philadelphia University. She’s been living with her grandparents in Drexel Hill and completed her Associates Degree by taking online courses.

Over the last two years the charges against Sardella had been reduced. She pled no contest to concealing the death of a child, involuntary manslaughter and abuse of a corpse.

The prosecution wanted jail time and it got it. 45 days, less time served. Sardella will complete her sentence weekends only and will be on house arrest for nine months. The judge told her she will do two years of community service at Project Cuddle, an organization that aim is to prevent baby abandonment.

Their motto: "No baby deserves to die before having a chance to live."
 
Sardella's Attorney, Arthur Donato, Jr., says his medical evidence and experts say Sardella’s baby was either stillborn or died in child birth and no medical attention would have saved him.

Sardella tearfully told the judge she'll never know if she had called for help the night the baby was born if he'd be alive today and she said,
 
“There has not been a day since January I have not thought about my son. I will never get over the loss of my child nor will I ever forgive myself. I am a much different person that I was two years ago."

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