Man Facing Up to 15 Years in Killing of Baby in 1995

"When I went to pick her up, she was like a spaghetti noodle in my arms," Seman said, according to the statement. "Right away, I knew something wasn't right."

Seman was the last person with the child. Photographs of the baby showed bruises that the medical examiner would have testified were consistent with child abuse, Simpson said.

"Just the sympathy factor alone was something I think he had to take into account," Simpson said. "Even if you go to trial and win, you're still looking at a child-abuse count, and I'm not sure a jury was going to let this case go."

Moreland did not immediately blame Seman for Nina's death, even after police told her that he was a suspect. She stayed with him for a few months afterward -- mainly, she said, out of fear that he might hurt her if she left. Seman was abusive throughout their months-long relationship, she said.

"I was trying to give him the benefit of the doubt," she said. "He was there swearing to me on everything on the face of the Earth that he didn't do anything. I didn't really know who or what to believe."

She said, however, that she began to suspect that Seman was responsible for her daughter's death as time passed and he continued to act violently toward her. Months later, she said, she came to the conclusion that he had killed Nina.

Moreland now lives in La Plata, has two other children and co-owns a business with her current boyfriend. Whatever happens Wednesday will not restore normalcy to her life, she said.

"That day changed everything that I ever thought I knew about myself or this entire world," she said. "I don't think for one minute I'm the same person today that I would have been if she were still here."