Crime & Safety
Woman Admits To Killing Newborn Son By Abandonment In 1994
Pamela Ferreyra, 61, pleaded guilty to voluntary manslaughter and felony child abuse in the 1994 death of her infant.
MONTEREY COUNTY, CA — A Watsonville woman confessed earlier this week to killing her newborn son whose partial remains were found abandoned in Prunedale more than 30 years ago, Monterey County prosecutors said.
Pamela Ferreyra, 61, pleaded guilty Wednesday to voluntary manslaughter and felony child abuse in the 1994 death of her infant, known for decades only as Baby John Doe. Ferreyra also admitted that she caused great bodily injury, making both offenses strikes under California's Three Strikes Law, the Monterey County District Attorney's Office said Thursday.
The case dates back to Dec. 3, 1994, when the partial remains of a 2- to 3-day-old boy were discovered off Garin Road in Prunedale. An autopsy determined the child had been born alive outside a hospital and had not been fed for roughly 24 hours before his death.
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Investigators at the time found no missing child reports, and the baby's identity remained a mystery for decades. The break came after the District Attorney's Office formed a Cold Case Task Force in 2020, a countywide effort to investigate and prosecute unsolved homicides. The task force, working with the Monterey County Sheriff's Office, submitted DNA from the infant for advanced testing.
In 2024, DNA analysis identified Ferreyra as the mother.
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Ferreyra later told investigators she had hidden her pregnancy from her husband and children. She admitted the baby was born alive in her home, and that she dressed him, placed him in her car, drove to the remote Prunedale site and left him there, never returning or checking what became of him, prosecutors said.
Ferreyra is scheduled to be sentenced on Feb. 18, and she faces 13 years and four months in state prison.
Prosecutors said this marks the 10th cold-case homicide solved and prosecuted since the creation of the county's Cold Case Task Force.
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