Woman who let her newborn freeze to death leaves jail

DWIGHT, Ill. -- A Poplar Grove woman convicted of letting her newborn daughter freeze to death outside more than five years ago was released from jail on Tuesday.

Kelli Moye, 21, walked out of the Dwight Correctional Center after serving almost two years for a crime that stunned residents of Poplar Grove, a small town surrounded by farmland about 70 miles northwest of Chicago.

"I'm glad it's over," said Terry Moye, the woman's uncle. "Now the whole family can get back to ... square one."

After leaving the prison, Kelli Moye and her family left for New York to appear on a national talk show, Terry Moye said.

Kelli Moye was 15 years old in February 1996 when she delivered her daughter in secret at her parents' home and then left the baby in a neighbor's yard. She said she was too afraid of being caught to check on the newborn.

The infant, whom Moye dressed in a light one-piece outfit and wrapped in a towel, died from exposure, and her body wasn't found for two days.