Student Accused of Killing Newborn in Fla. Dorm Allegedly Called Slaying Child Her 'Favorite' Form of Birth Control

A former University of Tampa student who was arrested last fall in connection with the death of a newborn allegedly exchanged disturbing text messages months before the child’s death, when she was pregnant.

Brianna Moore was arrested in Missouri in October 2024, months after a deceased newborn was allegedly found wrapped in a bloody towel in her dorm bathroom at the Tampa, Fla., campus, Hillsborough County authorities said at the time. 

The investigation began in April 2024 when Moore’s roommates heard the sound of a baby crying from their shared bathroom and later found blood inside, the State Attorney’s Office said in its statement. 

The following day, authorities found a deceased newborn “completely concealed” inside a bloody towel, which had been flagged to authorities by her roommates.  

Moore, then 19, allegedly admitted to police that she gave birth to the baby and held the newborn tightly to her chest until the child stopped crying, later wrapping her in a towel and disposing of her in the trash.

Information revealed in recently released court documents cited by the Tampa Bay Times give further insight into the teen’s alleged state of mind in the months before the incident. 

In text exchanges retrieved from her phone, which Moore reportedly voluntarily gave to police, she was allegedly seen messaging someone that her favorite “plan” was to kill the newborn. 

During the September 2023 text exchange with a young Mississippi man, the two are seen discussing issues of abortion, the documents claimed. 

Moore allegedly wrote in the exchange, “hey man sometimes you need a plan c.”

He allegedly responded, plan a was condoms. plan b was the pill. plan c was to kill (the) kid.”

Moore allegedly replied, “plan c is my favorite.”

The relationship of the man to Moore or to the unborn child were not immediately clear. 

Moore’s attorney Jonah Dickstein said the exchanges were taken out of context, per the Times. The young man was not the child’s father, and the two were having a conversation about general abortion laws.

Dickstein said Moore was not aware she was pregnant until the morning of the birth.

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Nicole Graham, a forensic neuropsychologist who evaluated Moore, said in a pretrial deposition that the teen was emotionally immature, with a history of cutting herself. She likely had a “cryptic pregnancy,” Graham wrote, referring to the phenomenon in which a woman may not know she is pregnant or is in denial about it.

Moore has been charged with aggravated manslaughter of a child, child neglect with great bodily harm, unlawful storage, preservation or transportation of human remains, and failure to report death to medical examiner or law enforcement, per the state attorney’s office.

Her trial is scheduled to begin later this month.

If you suspect child abuse, call the Childhelp National Child Abuse Hotline at 1-800-4-A-Child or 1-800-422-4453, or go to www.childhelp.org. All calls are toll-free and confidential. The hotline is available 24/7 in more than 170 languages.