Charges may be filed in death of newborn girl found in closet

Keith Paul

Wednesday, Jan. 26, 2000 | 9:43 a.m.

A newborn girl found stuffed into a plastic bag in her mother's closet died from suffocation, prompting a homicide investigation which North Las Vegas Police said Tuesday will likely end in charges being filed.

The baby was found late on Dec. 9 in the North Las Vegas home of an Air Force couple stationed at Nellis Air Force Base, and investigated as a suspicious death.

Autopsy and test results released Tuesday determined she was born alive and didn't die from any birth defects, said Lt. Chris Larotonda, North Las Vegas police spokesman.

The newborn's mother told police that night she didn't know that she was pregnant. Her husband also told investigators he didn't know of his wife's pregnancy, Larotonda said. No one as of this morning has been charged in this case.

"We're going to do a few more interviews with some people and make a determination from that whom we should charge with the death," Larotonda said. "We have a lot of physical evidence, which we can't discuss, but we should be able to file charges in this crime."

The 23-year-old mother has refused to talk with North Las Vegas Police investigators about the newborn's death. She also declined to comment when reached at her home Tuesday night.

Investigators had suspicions about the baby's death since she was found, but until the autopsy and other lab results confirmed the cause of death wasn't natural, they couldn't proceed with the investigation.

The investigation began after the mother called the Nellis hospital Dec. 9 complaining of an illness.

An ambulance was sent to her apartment in the 4700 block of Lawrence Street. Paramedics took her to the base hospital because they noticed she had lost a lot of blood, according to a police report.

"She was seen by two doctors and one of the doctors -- since it was obvious to the doctor she had recently given birth -- asked her where the baby was," Larotonda said. "She replied the baby was in the closet."

Nellis Air Force Base police, an ambulance crew and a nurse from the base hospital then went back to the home to check on the baby. The husband was there, claiming he didn't know his wife was pregnant and gave them permission to look in the apartment for the newborn, Larotonda said.

"They looked in the closet and found the child in a plastic garbage bag," Larotonda said.

North Las Vegas Police were then called.

Nellis Air Force Base officials said they are not allowed to give any information out about airmen so ranks and assignments were not available.

Larotonda said he believed the mother and her husband were on their normal duties at the base but didn't know their assignments.

Lt. Allen Herritage, a base spokesman, said he had not heard of the death or the investigation.

Air Force enlisted members are given the option of an honorable discharge if they become pregnant or are allowed to remain in the service. An officer is not guaranteed of the option to leave the Air Force, Herritage said.

Mothers killing their newborns is not as unusual as once thought, a national expert said.

A few of these cases get nationwide attention, but there are hundreds of women who kill their newborns each year, said Jon'a Meyer, a criminal justice professor at Rutgers University in New Jersey, who studies the slayings.

Some women, most commonly teen-age girls in these cases, deny to themselves they are pregnant, Meyer said.

When the baby is born, they kill the infant to eliminate any evidence of the pregnancy out of some type of fear they will be found out, Meyer said.

Meyer said she spoke with one woman who was in the military and concealed her pregnancy. "She didn't want to be transferred, but once she started to show she came clean with it," Meyer said. "She didn't kill her baby."

A few recent incidents of teen-age girls killing their newborns have made nationwide news. In 1997, Melissa Drexler, dubbed the "Prom Mom," gave birth in a bathroom at her prom, strangled the baby and returned to the dance. She eventually pleaded guilty to aggravated manslaughter and was sentenced to 15 years in prison.