Denise Reischman Merker, of Riverhead, charged with murder in baby daughter's death

A Riverhead woman accused of abandoning her baby daughter on the side of a Calverton road in 1993 has been charged with second-degree murder, court records show.

Denise Reischman Merker, 56, is scheduled to appear for arraignment before Supreme Court Justice Steven A. Pilewski in Riverhead on Tuesday, according to the court papers.

"This is a gut-wrenching, emotional case," said Reischman Merker’s attorney, Edward Burke of Sag Harbor, who declined to comment further.

Merker was arrested on Feb. 2 and charged with murder during a Feb. 3 arraignment in Riverhead Town Justice Court, a representative of the court said. She was ordered held without bail and has been in custody since then.

A spokeswoman for Suffolk District Attorney Ray Tierney declined to discuss the case, saying the office can’t comment on an indictment that is under seal.

According to a Newsday report from Sept. 28, 1993, a newborn girl was found dead in a garbage bag three days earlier by a state transportation crew on the westbound shoulder of Route 25, near Wading River-Manorville Road in Calverton. The girl’s mouth was stuffed with paper wads, Suffolk police said at the time.

"If the baby lived at all, it lived for a short period of time and was disposed of," Suffolk Det. Lt. John Gierasch told Newsday in 1993. "It appeared to be full-term or near full-term.

The umbilical cord was attached to the child, which appeared to have been on the side of the road for a few days. Gierasch said the child’s body did not appear to have suffered trauma.