A Suffolk County grand jury has indicted Michelle Chronick Tyson, 59, of Virginia, on two counts of second degree murder in the November 1996 death of a newborn boy found in a toilet at the Commack Multiplex on Long Island.
Tyson was arrested in Hampton, Virginia, extradited to Suffolk County and arraigned on Thursday, October 29, before Acting Supreme Court Justice Steven A. Pilewski, according to the District Attorney's announcement as reported by LongIsland.com. She pleaded not guilty and was ordered held without bail, Greater Long Island reported. She is due back in court on November 20. Her lawyer, Christopher Gioe, had not responded to that outlet's requests for comment. The charges are accusations, and Tyson is presumed innocent.
What prosecutors say happened
At about 12:30 a.m. on November 18, 1996, employees at the theater at 100 Express Drive North found a baby in a toilet in the women's restroom and called police. The Suffolk County Medical Examiner performed an autopsy that day and found the boy was live born and full term. The cause of death was listed as "Asphyxia with Submersion in Water" and the manner as homicide. Investigators called him Baby Boy Doe.
Tyson was 29 at the time and lived in Brentwood, Greater Long Island reported. She was at the multiplex with family to see Space Jam, the outlet reported. The theater closed in 2011.
District Attorney Raymond A. Tierney said, "Every child deserves the chance to live, to grow and to thrive." He added that the defendant "made a choice back in 1996 to take her newborn child's life."
How a blood sample from 1996 led to Virginia
The break came from a sample the county crime lab had kept for nearly three decades. In 2024, the Cold Case Task Force sent a blood sample from the Suffolk County Crime Lab to a private lab, which built a Single Nucleotide Polymorphism profile, known as a SNP profile. That profile let investigators identify Tyson as the likely mother.
On August 26, 2026, investigators got a search warrant for a cheek swab from Tyson. DNA analysis of that swab confirmed she was the boy's biological mother, prosecutors said. Our explainer How Is DNA Evidence Used in Court, and How Has It Freed the Wrongly Convicted? covers how that confirmation step works, and DNA closed another decades old case this week in Utah Closes 1974 Melissa Ann Smith Killing After DNA Points to Ted Bundy.
Our timeline of a 29 year case
November 18, 1996: The baby is found and the death is ruled a homicide.
2000: New York passes the Abandoned Infant Protection Act, a safe haven law that at first covered infants up to five days old, according to a New York State Senate release. The window was later extended to 30 days.
2011: The Commack Multiplex closes.
2024: The preserved blood sample goes to a private lab for SNP testing.
August 26, 2026: A warrant is issued for Tyson's cheek swab.
October 28 and 29, 2026: Arrest in Virginia, then arraignment in Riverhead.
By our arithmetic, 10,937 days separate the discovery of the baby from the arraignment, about 29 years and 11 months. Tyson has now lived about twice as long as she had on the night of the death. The safe haven law that might have offered another way out did not exist until almost four years later.
Why the case can still be brought
New York has no deadline for murder charges. Under Criminal Procedure Law 30.10, a prosecution for a class A felony "may be commenced at any time," and second degree murder is a class A felony.
Two counts for one death is a common charging choice, not a sign of a second victim. New York's second degree murder statute, Penal Law 125.25, covers a killing "with intent to cause the death of another person," and in its current form it also covers an adult who, with depraved indifference, recklessly causes the death of a child under 11. Prosecutors often charge more than one theory so a jury can weigh each. The announcement does not say which subdivisions the two counts rest on. If convicted on the top count, Tyson faces 25 years to life.
For how the panel that returned this indictment works, see What a Grand Jury Does, and Why It Meets Behind Closed Doors.
Two Taps News stories summarize reporting and the analysis discussed on Two Taps and Friends. They are not legal advice. Read our standards.
