A former Florida college student is facing prison time after killing her newborn baby. Brianna Moore will soon be on trial after her baby was found dead in the trash. The teen has admitted to killing the baby, but at the time, she believed it was her only option. Now that she’s on trial, more insight is coming to light. Although Moore is denying she knew about the pregnancy, a text conversation may prove otherwise.
The 19-year-old was arrested in her home state of Mississippi in October 2024 and extradited to Hillsborough County, Florida, on charges of aggravated manslaughter of a child and child neglect with great bodily harm, according to a news release from the Office of the State Attorney, 13th Judicial Circuit. Moore also faces charges of unlawful storage, preservation or transportation of human remains, and failure to report death to medical examiner or law enforcement. According to the statement, Moore gave birth in April 2024 in her University of Tampa dorm bathroom.
The girl’s roommates told Campus Safety they heard a baby crying and found blood in the bathroom. But when officers questioned Moore, she told them she had gotten her period. The next day, however, a bloody towel was discovered in Moore’s trash. When authorities arrived, they found the baby’s body “completely concealed” inside the towel.
During her police interview, Moore “admitted to delivering the baby in the bathroom and holding the baby tightly to her body until she stopped crying,” per the media statement. She told investigators she put the baby in a towel and placed it in the trash can.
An autopsy found the baby, who was a girl, had “multiple fractured ribs along her spine and hemorrhaging in her lungs.” According to the medical examiner, the cause of death was “asphyxia due to compression of the torso.” The baby’s death was ruled a homicide.
Ahead of Moore’s trial, court documents were shared to offer more details. The Tampa Bay Times shared an alleged text conversation between Moore and an unknown young man, per the Via the Lawton (Oklahoma) Constitution. Prosecution used the conversation, which happened eight months before she gave birth, to possibly highlight her mental state.
Moore and the young man were allegedly discussing abortion rules in Florida. She allegedly wrote “hey man sometimes you need a plan c.”
“plan a was condoms,” the young man wrote. “plan b was the pill. plan c was to kill (the) kid.”
To that, Moore replied, “plan c is my favorite.”
According to Moore’s attorney, Jonah Dickstein, the prosecution took the messages out of context. He claimed they were having a general conversation about abortion, not about Moore’s pregnancy.
“In those text messages with her friend from eight months earlier, she was just discussing the general legal status of birth control and abortion in Florida and other states,” Dickstein said in a statement.
Dickstein asserted that Moore didn’t even know she was pregnant until she gave birth.
Being convicted of the most serious charge could mean a prison sentence of up to 30 years, according to the Times. The trial is set to begin on July 22.
