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Hill District woman accused of killing 2-year-old daughter will learn her fate Friday
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A Hill District woman who previously withdrew her guilty plea for killing her 2-year-old daughter was in court again this morning.
Again, Ronda Watts pleaded guilty to a general charge of homicide.
And again, it will be up to Allegheny County Common Pleas Judge David R. Cashman to determine her degree of guilt.
In July 2009, he found her guilty of first-degree murder and sentenced her to life in prison without parole.
Shortly afterward, Watts filed a motion seeking to withdraw her guilty plea, and she has since undergone psychiatric evaluation.
According to investigators, Watts called police to report her daughter, Bryonna, missing on Jan. 11, 2007.
Officers searching the home found the girl in a cardboard box in a bedroom closet with a plastic bag over her head.
During a police interview, Watts first denied knowing how Bryonna died, but later confessed.
She told detectives the girl complained of a sore throat and would not stop crying. Watts said she put her hand over Bryonna's mouth to quiet her and the girl passed out and fell to the floor.
The woman told detectives she suffered from postpartum depression after her then-4-month-old son was born, but that she improved after taking medication.
Judge Cashman will announce his finding and sentence on Friday.
First Published March 20, 2013 1:00 pm
