YORK COUNTY, S.C. — A York County woman found guilty of killing her newborn daughter has been sentenced to life in prison.
Stacy Michelle Rabon’s baby, who was only hours old, was found dead and floating in the Catawba River in August 1992. The baby was inside a plastic bag and covered in sheets.
Prosecutors said the baby had been stabbed dozens of times, but the coroner couldn’t determine if she died from those injuries or from suffocation.
Rabon was arrested in August 2021 after DNA evidence tied her to the bedsheet the baby was wrapped in.
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After a trial by jury this month, Rabon was found guilty on Aug. 11. The jury returned a guilty verdict on the charge of homicide by child abuse but was hung on the charge of murder.
On Wednesday, Rabon was sentenced to life in prison for the crime. She begged the judge for mercy, saying she can’t escape memories of her daughter.
“I can’t think of anything but her face,” Rabon said. “Think about her everything, growing up -- all these things were taken from her because I made poor decisions.”
She claimed she was a troubled teen and gave her child away to a couple from Tega Cay, but she claimed she did not hurt the child.
“I didn’t know she was deceased until the detectives came and told me,” Rabon said.
Prosecutors said detectives tried to validate that claim.
“It became pretty obvious that she was just sending them on a wild goose chase,” they said. “She could never give them last names, locations -- they wanted her to take them to locations and she wouldn’t do it.”
Prosecutors and detectives who worked the case years ago asked the judge to give Rabon a life sentence.
“A lifetime was taken. It is a lifetime that we’re requesting,” they said.
The solicitor said since it happened so long ago, Rabon had to be sentenced based on what the law was in 1992, which is when the crime was committed.
Back then, life in prison for this charge came with the possibility of parole in 10 years. Since Rabon has already served two years in prison, the solicitor said she has credit for time served, so she’ll be eligible for parole in eight years. If she doesn’t get parole then, she would be eligible again a short time afterward.
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