Baby Doe Review – A Surprising, Captivating, True Crime Story
- Details
- Category: Indies, Docs, Foreign Film
- Published on Wednesday, 29 July 2026 12:56
- Written by Janet Walker
Baby Doe, from Visit Films, presents the true story of Gail Eastwood Ritchie, a wife and mother, and a decision made over thirty years ago, that through DNA and dedicated detective work came to a shocking conclusion.
Th documentary opens with the shocking ending, detectives from Geauga County, Ohio, are approaching Gail Eastwood Ritchie, in her driveway and through body cam footage the audience is privy to the conversation.
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The detectives politely ask if she knows why they want to talk with her, and she explains, about a "baby," they swab her cheek for a DNA sample, and take her to the police station. We then begin to understand a little more about why this woman, who appears, kind, mild mannered, a good wife, and a strong family unit would be the "monster" portrayed in the media.
Slowly, the facts are revealed in thirty years ago, a 22-year-old Gail Eastwood, a devout Christian, raised in a strong Christian home, became pregnant, and without thought or concern, either through a dissociative state or diminished capacity of the events, expelled the baby in a toilet, in a quick no labor movement, and gathered all the evidence, baby, placenta, and umbilical cord, and disposed of the newborn in a nearby wooded area.
The baby boy became known as Geauga's Baby, a funeral was held, and finding the mother was a priority. DNA databanks, and family genealogy secured through DNA profiles, and all the other advanced forensic science that has society entranced unavailable, so it became a unsolved cold case infant homicide.
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Throughout the documentary, rationalizing these actions with the woman telling the story is challenging. We meet her attorneys who explain that unrecognized pregnancies are common, with more than 250K reported per year. The headlines are filled with story after story of primarily younger women who, for whatever reason, fail to use birth control, and when they become pregnant fail to recognize the existence of the life growing inside them.
Then we meet Mark, Gail's husband, and the father of the unborn child. When we see his response we understand he had no knowledge of her pregnancy, although as these two were high school sweethearts, attended the same church, dated for seven years, he obviously knew that having sex could result in an unexpected pregnancy. As we learn, she became pregnant after dating her husband for six years, and they married after seven years of dating. He was clear, and it seemed obvious, if she had shared her burden with him, he would have married her.
Then we begin to understand the influence, which many may not, the power of religion that can, at times, create within a person's psyche a belief that if violating the tenants of the religion, in this case, Christianity, will result in not simply sin, but worse a life of damnation to hell.
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Many times, those who preach the gospel present a "celebrity aura," a seduction based on their position. In this case Gail attended a small church, where hell, fire, and damnation were preached, and profoundly affected this young women. As one of the foundational tenants of Christianity, refrain from pre-marital sex, she appeared to carry the burden of her actions, alone.
She believed the pregnancy had disappointed God, and acknowledgment of the pregnancy she believed would have caused shame, and shame is incapacitating for many, and an unbearable burden. Coupled with how the gospel was presented, apparently with the absence of forgiveness for all sin. She also explained that in her home, growing up she was not her father's favorite child, and she was never "good" enough.
As the countdown to the court date begins, the state refused to allow the defense to present a diminished capacity, and no other options where explored such as religious abuse or family mental abuse, and the facts, as cold and cruel as presented they were all the jury could base their decision on. Was she culpable in the newborn's death. She was.
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However, as it has become clear, the boundaries in society need to be reset. Society has allowed to many guilty individuals to walk free, to commit crime with impunity, boost of guilt, present themselves as above the law, and mock of the system.
As Baby Doe is replete with lessons, the most important to that we, as a society must take responsibility for our actions.
For teenage girls, if you have sex use birth control, newborn infants can be dropped off at any fire station in any city, with no questions asked, you won't be photographed, no police follow-up. All 50 U.S. states, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico have safe haven laws (also called Baby Moses laws). These laws let a parent safely and anonymously give up an unharmed newborn baby to designated places like hospitals and fire stations without fear of arrest. Ministers must preach a doctrine based on forgiveness, and not the damnations of hell as a tool to keep parishioners in line, as the power of suggestion is the greatest persuader.
Baby Doe is a captivating true account of a horrible, split-second decision, some thirty years before, and the dynamics of religion, and the law. See it.
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Country: United States.
Language: English.
Runtime: 104 minutes.
Director: Jessica Earnshaw.
Producer: Jessica Earnshaw, Holly Meehl Chapman,
Executive Producer: Sarah Paulson, Jenny Raskin, Kelsey Koenig, Geralyn White Dreyfous, Meadow Fund, Jamie Wolf & Nathalie Seaver, Debbie L. McLeod, Peggy Case, Tom Meadows.
Featuring: Gail Eastwood Ritchie, Mark Ritchie.
Janet Walker is the publisher, founder, and sole owner of Haute-Lifestyle.com. A graduate of New York University, she has been covering international news through the Beltway Insider, a weekly review of the nation’s top stories, for more than a decade. A general beat writer/reporter and entertainment/film critic, she is also an accomplished news/investigative news/crime reporter and submitted for Pulitzer Prize consideration "Cops Conspire to Deep Six Sex Assaults" in the Breaking News Category and was persuaded to withdraw the submission. Ms. Walker has completed five screenplays "The Six Sides of Truth," "The Assassins of Fifth Avenue," "The Wednesday Killer," "The Manhattan Project," and the sci-fi thriller "Project 13: The Last Day." She has also published “Unholy Alliances: A True Crime Story,” and “Days, Times, Seasons, and Events: A Collection of Poetry & Prose,” which can be purchased here. She is a member of the Los Angeles Press Club, the National Writers Union, and a member of the International Federation of Journalists.
