The murder of Ronald Eugene Woodham IV
Conway, Horry County, South Carolina · 2008
Overview
On December 4, 2008, utility workers found the body of a newborn boy abandoned in a wooded area near Conway, in Horry County, South Carolina. He had been born alive and, according to the coroner, could have survived with medical attention; instead he died of exposure. Unidentified, he was buried under the name 'Baby Boy Horry.' The case stayed cold for more than a decade until investigative genetic genealogy by the Texas lab Othram identified the infant's parents. His mother, Jennifer Sahr, formerly Jennifer Rickel, a Coastal Carolina University student at the time of the birth, was arrested in March 2020 and charged with homicide by child abuse. In September 2022 she pleaded guilty to the reduced charge of voluntary manslaughter and was sentenced in 2023. The infant was later given the name Ronald Eugene Woodham IV by his biological father.
How it was solved
After the 2008 death went unsolved for years, the Horry County Police Department partnered with Othram in 2019 and submitted forensic evidence to the company's laboratory in The Woodlands, Texas. Othram scientists used Forensic-Grade Genome Sequencing to build a comprehensive DNA profile from the infant's preserved DNA, and the company's in-house genealogy team used that profile in a genealogical search to produce investigative leads. Those leads pointed investigators to the child's biological parents. On March 3, 2020, Horry County Police announced that scientific evidence had confirmed Jennifer Sahr, formerly Rickel, of Pensacola, Florida, as the infant's mother, and identified Ronald Eugene Woodham III as the father. Sahr was arrested the same day by a U.S. Marshals fugitive task force and charged with homicide by child abuse.
Sources
- Baby Boy Horry
“The full-term baby's unclothed body was discovered by Horry Electric utility workers inside a box wrapped in a tote bag near Conway, and the child was known only as Baby Boy Horry.”
- Over a Decade Later, Baby Boy Horry is Identified
“Othram scientists used Forensic-Grade Genome Sequencing to build a comprehensive DNA profile for the infant, and Othram's in-house genealogy team used the DNA profile in a genealogical search to produce investigative leads that were returned to law enforcement investigators.”
- Parents of 'Baby Boy Horry' Identified
“On December 4th, 2008, an unidentified newborn boy was found wrapped in a bag and abandoned in the woods near Meadowbrook Rd in Conway. It's believed he was born alive and, had he received medical attention, could have survived.”
- Killing of Ronald Eugene Woodham IV
“On June 15, 2023, Ronald Woodham III, the father of the infant previously known as Baby Boy Horry, publicly named his son Ronald Eugene Woodham IV, more than 14 years after the child's death.”
- Pensacola woman linked to 2008 South Carolina baby homicide arrested
“Horry County Police confirmed they have scientific evidence to confirm 32-year-old Jennifer Sahr, formerly Rickel, of Pensacola is the mother of Baby Boy Horry. Since 2008, the baby's DNA had been collected, which has just now led police to actionable evidence.”
- Suspect in Baby Boy Horry case enters plea agreement to avoid trial
“Jennifer Sahr entered a guilty plea, with the original charge of homicide by child abuse reduced to voluntary manslaughter. Sahr addressed the court saying, to everyone in this court, I am sorry. I am truly sorry.”
- South Carolina woman sentenced in Baby Boy Horry abandonment case
“A South Carolina woman was sentenced after pleading guilty to voluntary manslaughter in the 2008 death of a newborn known as Baby Boy Horry, who was found abandoned in the woods near Conway.”