Teen Who Murdered Baby in Bedroom Shortly After Secret Birth at Age 16 Gets at Least 35 Years in Prison

A Nebraska teenager was sentenced to 35 to 60 years in prison on Thursday, April 24, after pleading no contest to second-degree murder in connection with her newborn’s 2023 death.

Chloe Coplen-Anderson, 18, appeared in Sheridan County District Court on Thursday, where Judge Travis O’Gorman handed down the sentence.

Chloe Coplen-Anderson hid her pregnancy and slit her newborn son’s throat shortly after giving birth in her bedroom, according to an arrest affidavit obtained by PEOPLE.

An officer with the Gordon Police Department arrived at Coplen-Anderson’s home on Nov. 6, 2023, after receiving a report of a teenage girl giving birth to a baby boy who was not breathing, the affidavit states.

The affidavit says that the officer arrived to find Coplen-Anderson’s father saying he believed the child had been stillborn and that it was too late to save the baby,

Coplen-Anderson’s mother, however, immediately identified her daughter as the baby’s killer. At the time, the mother was weeping. She told police her daughter had “hurt him” and noted “marks” where the baby had been stabbed, according to the affidavit.

Both parents told officers they had seen their daughter remove a knife from the kitchen earlier that day. The affidavit notes that the knife was still missing from the drawer when authorities arrived at the home.

According to the affidavit, police were later called back to the residence after Coplen-Anderson’s father found the knife hidden in his daughter’s closet and covered in blood.

Coplen-Anderson’s attorney Todd Lancaster tells PEOPLE that Coplen-Anderson had been abused by family members.

The two witnesses called by the defense testified that as a result of the trauma, Coplen-Anderson suffers from multiple mental health conditions, including post-traumatic stress disorder and major depressive disorder.

Lancaster also said Coplen-Anderson was 15 when she became pregnant with the child, and that the baby’s father was 19. Sex between a person who is 19 and an individual who is 15 or younger is considered sexual assault in the state of Nebraska.

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Lancaster also claimed in court that no adults stepped in to help his client or stage an intervention.

In August 2024, Coplen-Anderson agreed to plead no contest to the second-degree murder charge in exchange for prosecutors downgrading the initial charge of first-degree murder.

Prosecutors also dropped charges of child abuse resulting in death and use of a deadly weapon against Coplen-Anderson.

Second-degree murder is punishable by anywhere from 20 years in prison to life in prison in the state of Nebraska.

As it now stands, Coplen-Anderson will be at least 51 when she leaves prison, as the judge agreed to give her credit for the more than 500 days she has already been behind bars.