Dead baby found in backpack

Region

September 9, 2010

BY SHERI McWHIRTER smcwhirter@record-eagle.com The Record Eagle Thu Sep 09, 2010, 07:04 AM EDT

BOYNE CITY — The Rev. Eleanor West is among those searching for answers following the discovery of a dead newborn baby in a backpack in Boyne City.

"It brings up many questions. I'm sure there was a lot of confusion involved for something like this to happen," said West, one of the pastors at Boyne City Community of Christ Church. "Where did we fall down as a society?"

The Boyne City Police Department is investigating after someone brought the backpack to the police station on Tuesday afternoon after finding it in bushes in a yard in Boyne City. An officer noticed a foul odor and opened the backpack to discover a dead newborn wrapped in plastic bags.

"I'm just devastated. My heart goes out to that new soul and the person who felt that was their only option," West said.

Police are withholding the name of the person who brought the backpack to the station, as well as the location where the dead infant was found.

Chief Randall Howard could not be reached for comment on Wednesday after his department released limited information in a written press release.

The infant's body is at Spectrum Hospital in Grand Rapids, where a forensic autopsy will be performed. Results are not yet known, said John Jarema, Charlevoix County prosecutor.

"We're waiting for that to come back and hopefully we'll know whether the baby was born alive or stillborn," Jarema said.

Autopsy results will help determine the nature of the criminal investigation, he said.

"If it was born alive, that could mean up to murder charges," Jarema said. "It's a wait-and-see right now."

Jarema said police are contacting area hospitals to learn if any women who'd recently delivered checked in for treatment. It is unknown where the baby was born, who delivered the child and how it died, Jarema said.

This is at least the fourth dead newborn baby discovered in northern Lower Michigan this year.

A 15-year-old Traverse City girl delivered a full-term baby boy on March 8, but told her father she miscarried and he took her to the hospital. Officials at Munson Medical Center contacted police, who found the dead infant wrapped in wet towels and a plastic bag in a basement closet at the family's home.

The girl, now 16, faces a charge of involuntary manslaughter for failing to seek medical treatment for the child.

In April, a dead infant was found in a trash container in Montmorency County and authorities charged both parents with crimes. The mother, Krystal Taylor, 18, faces involuntary manslaughter and concealing the death of an infant, while the father, Erick Berney, 25, will be sentenced on Sept. 24 for concealing the death of the infant.

In May, an infant's body was found near a fence in the backyard of a home in Grand Traverse County's Garfield Township. Sheriff's deputies obtained DNA from a woman associated with the residence and it matched the dead infant, though they refuse to identify her or say if she's a suspect.

Charlevoix County continues the trend.

"It's a definite spike and that's alarming and sad, no matter what the reasons are," Jarema said.

Such situations can be avoided, especially through Michigan's safe haven law that allows infants up to three days old to be legally surrendered to officials at any hospital, fire station, police station or with any emergency service provider, Jarema said.

"And that's no questions asked," said Dana Stempky, who works for children's protective services in Charlevoix and Emmet counties, a division of Michigan's Department of Human Services.

Private adoption agencies will take newborn infants immediately after birth and there are many people ready to adopt, Stempky said.

"I don't think people think this will happen in northern Michigan, but we are seeing it happen here," said Sarah Lackie, adoption and pregnancy counseling services supervisor with Bethany Christian Services in Traverse City.

That agency is working to educate the public about Michigan's safe delivery of newborns law following the streak of baby abandonment cases this year. It's a good idea, West said.

"I would hope that somehow, some of us can get together in a way that's not judgmental to help in these situations before something like this happens," West said.