A North Carolina teen was sentenced to 10 to 12 years in prison on a reduced murder charge after she pleaded guilty on Monday to the stabbing death of her infant daughter.
Authorities said Rebecca Jo Blackmore, who was 16 years old when her baby died in 2011, killed her newborn child by stabbing the baby girl to death with scissors.
According to Lindsay Voorhees, a spokeswoman for the Currituck County Sheriff's Office, the Knotts Island teen went to Chesapeake Regional Medical Center on June 17, 2011. There, she told employees she had just given birth and the baby was dead in her home.
When authorities went to Blackmore's residence, they found the baby's body hidden inside Blackmore's bedroom closet.
The medical examiner's office in Greenville, N.C., later determined the baby was alive at birth and survived only for a very short period of time, Currituck County Sheriff Susan Johnson previously told HuffPost.
The infant's death was caused by "multiple stab wounds," according to Johnson.
North Carolina has a safe haven law, which states "you can leave your baby, up to 7 days old, with an employee on duty at any hospital" and several other approved locations. The mother is not required to provide any identifying information. Children who are dropped off become a ward of the state, according to the law.
Blackmore -- previously a student at Currituck County High School -- was charged as an adult in the killing.
With the plea, prosecutors lowered the charge from first degree murder, which could have resulted in a sentence of life in prison without parole.
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