Residents of a township in New Jersey will hold a vigil on Wednesday in memory of a newborn baby girl allegedly burned to death by her mother last week.
According to NBC10, residents of Pemberton Township in New Jersey will hold the vigil at the United Methodist Church in Pemberton Township on Wednesday. It is scheduled to start at 7:30 in the evening.
The unnamed baby died two hours after reportedly being set on fire by her own mother, a Hyphernkemberly Dovilier of Pemberton Township, late Friday evening.
NBC10 earlier reported that Dovilier had placed the baby on Simontown Road and allegedly used accelerant to start the blaze that killed the infant. Medical personnel attempted an airlift to St. Christopher's Hospital in Philadelphia to try and save the baby. However, she succumbed to her injuries two hours later.
In another report, eyewitness Davis Joseph told NBC10 that he asked Dovilier what she was burning along the side of the road, to which she answered that it was "poop."
"She said her dog pooped in her car and she was burning the poop on the side of the road," Joseph recalled. However, the baby's scream alerted Joseph and his wife to what was actually being burned on the side of the street.
Joseph also told NBC10 that Dovilier attempted to escape after being discovered.
"She tried to run for it. Then I put her to the ground," he said. "That's when we saw it was a baby."
"It's disheartening," Joseph said, adding that the scene had been a "nightmare."
Strangers and neighbours subsequently set up a memorial for the dead baby, to which locals have brought teddy bears and flowers to honour the little girl's memory.
After an autopsy by the Burlington County Medical Examiner, Dovilier was arrested and charged with the baby's death. Her charges require a bail amount of $500,000.
