Mom accused of abandoning, killing Baby Boy Horry makes first appearance since arrest
The woman accused of giving birth to and abandoning Baby Boy Horry made her first court appearance Wednesday afternoon.
Jennifer Sahr went before a magistrate in an Horry County courtroom at J. Reuben Long Detention Center in her first hearing in connection to her arrest in the 2008 cold case.
Magistrate Nate Hutson said he did not have jurisdiction to set bond. That means, Sahr will remain in J. Reuben Long Detention Center until she can go before a Circuit Court judge.
Horry County police announced on Tuesday that Sahr was wanted for homicide by child abuse. She was arrested later the same day in Horry County. Sahr faces life in prison if convicted.
In December 2008, utility workers found a dead newborn in a plastic bag in Conway area woods. The unknown child was dubbed “Baby Boy Horry’” by local officials. Police investigated the case for more than a decade and did not make an arrest until Tuesday.
Horry County Coroner Robert Edge and the motorcycle group Rolling Thunder held annual memorials and tried to find the boy’s mother.
Police say they believe Baby Boy Horry survived child birth and was alive when he was abandoned. While officials have not released many details on how they connected Sahr to the case, they did say DNA testing confirmed she is the baby’s mother.
Sahr failed to supply the boy with food, clothing, shelter, or healthcare leading to the child’s death, according to her arrest warrant.
Sahr was a Coastal Carolina University student who went by her maiden name of Rickel in 2008. University records indicate she graduated in December 2010. Sahr is also known to have lived in the Pensacola, Florida, area in recent months.
Her attorney Greg McCollum said Sahr is presumed innocent and her lawyers haven’t had a chance to review the evidence in the case.
Sahr drove to the North Myrtle Beach area after she learned she was wanted to avoid the extradition process. They thought she could turn herself in the morning, but police arrested her after their announcement.
McCollum described Sahr’s state of mind as an out-of-body experience, “almost hard to believe something like this is happening to you.”
Sahr is married and her husband is an active military member stationed in Florida, McCollum said. They have two children who are both under 3 years old.
“They are taking it very hard,” McCollum said of Sahr’s family’s reaction, “as anyone would.”
This story was originally published March 4, 2020 at 2:19 PM.
