Mom Sentenced To 20 Years In 2003 Deaths Of Newborn Twin Sons

COOK COUNTY, IL – A 44-year-old woman was sentenced to 20 years in the Illinois Department of Corrections for the 2003 deaths of her newborn twin sons after she abandoned them in a trash bin in unincorporated Stickney.

Antoinette Briley, formerly of Holland, Michigan, pleaded guilty to first-degree murder Tuesday at the Bridgeview Courthouse, after an extensive cold case investigation by the Cook County Sheriff’s Office.

The bodies of the twin baby boys were discovered on June 6, 2003 by a Waste Management employee emptying trash bins in an alley in the 4800 block of South Latrobe Avenue in unincorporated Stickney Township. The employee said he saw a baby’s arm sticking out of the front bucket of the garbage truck. A subsequent autopsy by the Cook County Medical Examiner’s Office determined the babies had been born alive and died of asphyxiation. The medical examiner ruled their deaths homicides.

>>> New Details Emerge In 2003 Newborn Twins' Deaths, Mom Charged

According to testimony at her 2020 bond hearing, Briley, then 24, was home alone at the grandparents’ house in unincorporated Stickney when she gave birth to the babies in the bathtub. Briley is alleged to have put both babies in a duffle bag, fully intending to bring them to a hospital to have them checked out.

Somewhere between her grandparents’ house and the hospital, she stopped the car, according to the charges. Prosecutors said she chose a trash bin at random and discarded the twin boys, one of whom was still connected by the umbilical cord to the placenta. The second baby was detached, and the placenta was found in a black shoebox. Despite a diligent search for clues, sheriff’s police were unable to identify a suspect.

Cook County investigators in 2003 when newborn infants were found dead in a garbage bin. / Cook County Sheriff

The cold case was reopened in 2018, when detectives took DNA from the 2003 investigation and used the latest advances in genetic science. Samples were uploaded to GEDMatch, a free online database where anyone can share their data from consumer DNA testing companies, such as 23andMe and Ancestry.com, to search for other relatives who may have submitted their DNA. Sheriff’s detectives were able to develop a family profile which enabled them to identify Briley as a possible suspect, prosecutors said.

Cook County detectives traveled to Holland, Mich., where they learned Briley was living with her young daughter. Prosecutors said Briley was spotted smoking a cigarette behind the factory where she worked, when detectives collected the cigarette butt for DNA testing.

“[Detectives] didn’t know they were on a suspect from Michigan. It was all genealogy,” said Cook County Public Safety Director Leo Schmitz during a 2020 news conference.

Briley, who grew up in the Chicago area before relocating to Michigan, was taken into custody on Dec. 3, 2020, in a traffic stop in Oak Lawn. At the time of her arrest, officers described her demeanor as extremely “distraught and emotional.” Briley is said to have confessed to discarding her newborn sons while they were still alive into a trash bin.

The remaining counts against Briley were dismissed during the plea hearing.