A Florida woman has committed suicide while serving time in jail for murdering her baby boy.
According to Daily Mail, 33-year-old Kristen Bury had been just one year into her 25-year sentence for the murder of her nine-week-old son, Chance Walsh, when police found her dead in her cell.
Police say that Bury’s husband, Joseph Walsh, suffocated Chance by stuffing a baby wipe in his mouth. The couple then buried him in the woods.
Police found Chance’s remains in a shallow grave, wearing only his diaper. Bury had pleaded no contest to aggravated manslaughter in January.
Bury was found unresponsive in her cell on Sunday morning. She was later pronounced dead, and her cause of death is believed to be suicide.
Bury’s death may prove to be an issue in the rest of this case. Walsh has not yet faced trial for his part in Chance’s death, so Bury had agreed to testify as part of a plea deal with prosecutors.
Fort Myers criminal trial attorney Joe Viacava explained that Bury’s suicide may result in this case being dismissed.
“This could turn into a dismissal of the case for all we know,” he told NBC2, since Bury was “critical to the case.”
He continued, “If she becomes the lynchpin to their case and she’s no longer there to testify, that could be the difference between a conviction and an acquittal.”
Unfortunately, if the case is not able to proceed, there may be no justice for baby Chance. Hopefully, Walsh ends up paying for the heinous crime he committed.