LANCASTER COUNTY, Pa. — An Elizabethtown woman will serve up to 20 years in prison for suffocating her infant daughter in July 2018.
Candace Parrow, 25, was sentenced to 9-20 years in prison on Monday.
Lancaster County Judge Jeffery Wright issued the sentence and said that despite Parrow having a mental health diagnosis, she was intelligent enough to understand the significance of her actions.
On July 16, 2018, Parrow had sole custody of the child at her East Orange Street apartment in Lancaster during the evening hours.
Around 10 p.m., police responded to the apartment and found the child unresponsive, discolored, and beyond help.
The child was transported to Hershey Medical Center where it was pronounced dead.
Assistant District Attorney Karen Mansfield told Judge Wright, "[Parrow] knew what she did. She was smart enough to lie to the police about what happened. She strangled her 4-month-old infant."
Parrow’s defense lawyer said she has intellectual disabilities and suffered from post-partum depression.
While Mansfield did not challenge those diagnosis, she said Parrow cancelled appointments with doctors and took other steps to actively disconnect from treatment and social services.
Ultimately that, in Mansfield's opinion, led to the infant's death.
“All she ever wanted to be was a mom.” Parrow was pregnant at the time of her daughter’s death.
She gave birth to a son, who is now in the care of a relative.
“There is no victor,” Judge Wright said. “Nothing I do today… can bring solace to the bereaved.”
Now, Parrow will serve time.
