YouTube make-up artist, 32, is jailed for 40 years after covering up two back-to-back pregnancies then throwing the newborn babies in the trash

A South Carolina mother-of-two who skipped the trial where she was convicted of homicide by child abuse for throwing two of her newborns away in trash bags moments after they born will spend the next 40 years of her life in prison.

Alyssa Dayvault turned herself in the day after her trial ended and remained in jail until Thursday, when Circuit Judge Steven John opened the envelopes where he placed her sealed sentences after the jury verdict on October 15.

Dayvault, 32, was sentenced to 40 years in prison in the deaths of each child, a boy and a girl. She will serve the sentences at the same time. She faced 20 years to life on the charges.

Alyssa Dayvault, 32, is pictured crying in court on Thursday after being sentenced to 40 years in prison for throwing two of her newborn babies in the trash 

Alyssa Dayvault turned herself in the day after her trial ended and remained in jail until Thursday 

Dayvault worked as a make-up artist and posted her work online . She was convicted of two counts of homicide by child abuse Thursday for throwing two newborns away in trash bags after she gave birth to them in secret 13 months apart

Dayvault hid her back-to-back pregnancies in 2017 and 2018 from everyone, including her boyfriend and her mother, gave birth at her North Myrtle Beach home alone then put the newborns into trash bags and threw them away, prosecutors said.

Dayvault broke down in tears when given a chance to speak as her family and her former boyfriend and his family sat in the Horry County courtroom.

'I want to apologize - to my family, especially my daughters. I hope that one day they will be able to forgive me for what I've done, ' Dayvault said though tears, as Myrtle Beach Online reported. 'I never meant to do anything. I never harmed anyone. I made a horrible mistake.'

Prosecutors said they could not try her for murder because they had no evidence Dayvault strangled or suffocated her children.

Dayvault told police in taped interviews that her daughter was born with the umbilical cord around her neck and died in November 2017 and she blacked out for at least 15 minutes after giving birth to her son in December 2018 and found him dead when she came to. She said she then panicked and threw the bodies away.

Dayvault apologized to her children and her family, and admitted that she made 'a horrible mistake'   

Dayvault told police that she gave birth to a baby boy here at her Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, home

Dayvault disposed of the bodies of two of her newborn children in trash receptacles outside the house

But a pathologist testified the baby boy appeared to expel meconium, fecal matter babies have when they are born, inside the trash bag. The pathologist added that showed the infant was alive when the bag was closed, slowly cutting off his oxygen supply.

Police only started investigating Dayvault after she went to at Grand Strand Regional Medical Center complaining of heavy bleeding days after the 2018 birth because a tear caused by her labor became infected. 

After giving her a blood transfusion, doctors discovered an undelivered placenta in her uterus and when Dayvault could not account for the baby, the hospital called police. She then told investigators what happened during her 2017 pregnancy.

During the trial last month, prosecutors played a recording of Dayvault's interview with police at the hospital. 

Dayvault is heard telling investigators in the recording she hid the 2018 pregnancy from both her longtime boyfriend and her mother.  

Dayvault first denied having a baby when she was questioned, telling them: 'I would know if I had a baby.'

But as investigators pressed her, she broke down crying in the video and detailed giving birth in the bathroom at her home and then cleaning up the aftermath.

They asked her why she threw the babies away and she said her boyfriend didn't want children and she was scared how her mother would react. 

Dayvault told police she disposed of her babies because her boyfriend didn't want children 

Dayvault has two other older children.

'I wasn't thinking. I wasn't. I was too scared,' said Dayvault, barely understandable as she cried in the video.

On December 11, 2018, North Myrtle beach police conducted a search warrant of Dayvault's home, where they found the body of the baby boy. 

She told officers she delivered the baby alone. And after passing out from the pain and discovering the unconscious baby, she put him in a trash bag and threw him away, the recording showed. 

While being questioned, Dayvault also admitted it had happened before. 

Between November 4 and November 23, 2017, she said, she also gave birth alone, this time to a girl, and threw her body away after the baby had her umbilical cord wrapped around her neck, the court heard. Again, she didn't seek medical attention for the baby.  

She hid the pregnancy that time too, and there were no complications so no one knew. 

According to her medical records, Dayvault had been in the third trimester in November 2017 and the baby girl had shown a healthy heart tone. 

Even though Dayvault skipped her trial, her lawyer put up a defense. In her closing argument, public defender Sharde Crawford repeated the testimony from the pathologist that an autopsy could not determine how exactly the baby boy died in 2018.

Dayvault's boyfriend and his family spoke to the court October 15 after the trial. They said they were heartbroken that someone they trusted and loved would lie to them and do such horrible things.

Dayvault worked as a make-up artist and shared her work on YouTube. She has two older children 

Dayvault's lawyer asked the judge to reconsider the 40-year sentence before she had no criminal record and suffers from mental illness

Prosecutors said they sought convictions for homicide by child abuse because Dayvault showed extreme indifference to whether her newborns lived or died. The jury deliberated less than two hours.

'She certainly showed extreme indifference to the criminal justice system,' prosecutor Scott Hixson said of Dayvault skipping her trial.

Dayvault's lawyer asked the judge to reconsider the 40-year sentence before she had no criminal record and suffers from mental illness. Dayvault will have to serve 34 years before becoming eligible for parole.

Judge John refused, emphasizing he was punishing Dayvault for the baby's death, not for missing court.

'I did not take into consideration in any shape, matter or form the fact he defendant was not present,' John said. 'That doesn´t affect the sentence at all. It is the facts and evidence presented.'