Amy Grossberg and Brian Peterson

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"Brian Peterson" redirects here. for the American television producer and screenwriter see Brian Wayne Peterson.

Amy Grossberg (born 1978) delivered a baby at a Comfort Inn in November 1996, assisted only by her then-boyfriend Brian Peterson, who later threw the baby into a dumpster. In March 1998, Peterson pled guilty to manslaughter and served a two-year sentence; on April 22, 1998, Grossberg agreed to a plea bargain, and was sentenced to a two-and-a-half years in prison on July 9, 1998.

Grossberg and Peterson dated while in high school, growing up in the affluent suburb of Wyckoff, New Jersey. They successfully hid the pregnancy from their parents, particularly Grossberg’s mother, who was the person Amy most wanted to shield it from. Grossberg wore baggy clothes and avoided her parents for the course of the nine months.

In November 1996, the eighteen-year-old's water broke. She and Peterson checked into the Comfort Inn and delivered the unnamed child on November 12. Conflicting stories have made the subsequent events a mystery to anyone except the couple, but Peterson and Grossberg claim they believed the infant to be stillborn, wrapped him in a garbage bag, and disposed of him in a dumpster.

The bloody sheets were discovered by a cleaning woman, who immediately contacted police. K-9 Police dogs found the body in the dumpster. Upon returning to school, Grossberg began to have severe seizures as a result of not having expelled the placenta. It was clear to the medical officials that she had given birth. Not long after, police officials and the hospital put the two incidents together.

The couple’s initial claim that the child was stillborn was quickly shot down. An autopsy proved that the infant was delivered alive and that the cause of death was several head fractures and Shaken Baby Syndrome. The cause of the injuries was inconclusive. Peterson and Grossberg, who at first seemed to remain a loving couple, quickly turned on each other and began the finger pointing. In December 1996 they were indicted for the murder. Peterson stated emphatically that Grossberg told him to “get rid of it!”; Grossberg claimed that Peterson acted alone in putting the boy into the dumpster.

In March 1998, Peterson pled guilty to manslaughter in exchange for his testimony against Grossberg at her trial. Other than his initial claims, he also stated that he tried to get her to a hospital, but she refused. When Grossberg heard Peterson's statement in detail, she agreed to a plea bargain on April 22, 1998. She admitted to unintentionally causing the death of the infant and said that she and Peterson never planned to kill the baby. A concern of attorneys for both defendants regarding going to trial would be that the pictures of the baby's head (it was noted on Court TV that such pictures could not be shown on television) would be displayed in court and lead to more severe penalties.

While Peterson was sentenced to two years, Grossberg was held to be more responsible and was sentenced to two-and-a-half years.

Not all forensic pathologists agree with the fact that the baby was born alive, some feel that infant was likely stillborn or drew breath once or twice before dying. Bruising to a baby's head can also occur in unattended births, particularly if the mother is young, it's her first child, and the mother has a small pelvis. The Grossberg baby also had congenital abnormalities, increasing the likelihood of stillbirth.

Dr. Neil S. Kaye a recognized psychiatrist an expert in Paternal Neonaticide and Infanticide, was a defense witness during the trial. He has since written and spoke globally on the subject of parents who kill their children.

A Season 8 episode of Law & Order was based on the case as were episodes of The Practice and Homicide: Life on the Street.

[edit] The Love of My Life

Peterson and Grossberg's story was fictionalized by the writer T. Coraghessan Boyle in his collection of short stories, After The Plague, the story was entitled "The Love of My Life" (pages 121-139). Boyle found the story in a newspaper and was curious how a loving couple could make up their minds to commit the crime they did and explored their points of view through his fictional characters, China Berkowitz and Jeremy (surname unknown) and followed the case history as closely as possible to build an accurate picture of what Peterson and Grossberg went through, changing only such details as the names of the people involved and the sex of the infant.