Melody Townsend, Ana Marie Townsend (Cook County Sheriff’s Office mugshot, sketch of “Baby Jane Doe”)
After a 1-year-old girl died on the night before July 4 in 2017, the baby’s mother and father allegedly tried to fool the victim’s grandparents by playing fake baby cries over the phone. Now, nearly six years after the baby’s remains were found in an attic, criminal charges have been filed against the mom, including a count for allegedly aiding a fugitive.
Melody Townsend, the 40-year-old mother of Ana Marie Townsend, is suspected of aiding the victim’s still-unidentified father in aftermath of their daughter’s death. The victim’s remains were discovered in a plastic bag in the attic of a burned-out and vacant Markham home just off of I-57, some 20 or so miles outside of Chicago. The home was empty at the time because the owner had been moved to an assisted-living facility, WGN-TV reported.
Townsend was identified by ABC 7 Chicago as a registered nurse. The local news affiliate WLS, citing Deputy Supervisor Kathryn Morrissey of the State’s Attorney’s Office, reported that the medically-trained Townsend took a shower rather than calling 911.
“When defendant Melody returned, she walked into the hotel room and observed the victim on the bed. The victim appeared to not be breathing and had aspirated. She went to wake up the victim and the victim did not move, and although not cold she was not body temperature,” Morrissey reportedly said.
Townsend has been in Illinois custody since last Tuesday, authorities said. As of Monday, the charges against Townsend are felony child endangerment and concealing/aiding a fugitive. Although she is charged with aiding a fugitive, that alleged fugitive has not yet been identified by name or charged.
Authorities reportedly believe that Townsend was living out of a hotel with the baby’s father and came home after work to find her daughter was not breathing.
The baby was not identified until two years after the fire — and it took even longer for charges to be filed. The victim reportedly had drugs and alcohol in her bloodstream and had been physically abused and killed prior to the blaze.
Shockingly, authorities allege that Townsend’s parents — the baby’s grandparents — repeatedly asked about their granddaughter in the months after the fire.
During one phone call, Ana Marie’s father allegedly played “fake baby cries from the internet,” as WGN’s story put it, as the victim’s mother tried to falsely explain why the cries didn’t sound like her baby’s.
Townsend allegedly claimed the baby “was not feeling well.” The mother allegedly lied to one of her parents again after she was shown a law enforcement sketch of the child, denying that the sketch was Ana Marie. Townsend admitted her lies to investigators and filled in some gaps fro investigators, per WGN:
After the discovery of her body, authorities said the father left the area to Texas in 2017. Melody cut ties with her family and other daughter in Sept. 2017, according to court documents. Sometime in 2019 or 2020, Melody left the area and traveled to the Los Angeles area — where she remained until her arrest.
Phone records will reportedly show that Townsend regularly stayed in touch with the girl’s father.
“We expect more charges in the future,” Markham Police Chief Jack Genius told reporters last Thursday, noting that prosecutors had not charged the defendant with concealing a homicidal death.
“The child was murdered on or about July 3, 2017,” the police chief said, though the lead investigator on the case more precisely said that the baby died of “homicide by undetermined means.” Authorities said that the infant’s body was found in the attic after a “structure fire” at the vacant home was put out by the fire department.
For the purposes of the presser amid an ongoing probe, Genius referred to the victim in the years-long “cold case” only as Baby Jane Doe.
“The house was vacant for some time before the fire,” the police chief said. “The persons who committed this heinous crime chose that location to place the body of the infant.”
“Eventually, we ended up finding out the child’s mother,” whom Genius identified as Melody Townsend.
Detective Sgt. Jessie Jones, the lead investigator, confirmed that further information led investigators to find the defendant in California. Jones otherwise repeatedly declined to comment on the particulars of the investigation.
Chief Genius stepped back to the podium to explain why the case was brought without homicide charges.
“The purpose of this has been to let the community and the media know that this baby has not been forgotten,” he said, noting the case “evolving as we speak.”
Baby Jane Doe has been “on our mind for many years,” the chief continued. “It weighed on the entire city.”
“The ultimate goal is still to find out who killed this child — how this child died,” Chief Genius said. “We want to know who that was, how that happened, and obviously bring them to justice. This child deserves justice.”
“This was just to let the community know that that is coming — it’s partially delivered. We already have a person in custody,” he added. “For years, they were worried and scared,” the police chief also said, referring to neighbors who lived next to home where Ana Marie Townsend was found in a plastic bag.
Genius indicated that other law enforcement agencies around the country assisted behind the scenes in the investigation.
“It’s complicated,” the police chief said of the probe, in summary.
Cook County jail records reviewed by Law&Crime show Townsend in custody and scheduled to appear in court on April 26.
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