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Officials investigate disposal of newborn baby JOE HIGGINS
Messenger staff writer
Athens County investigators are alleging a woman from Albany, with a last-known address in Nelsonville, delivered a baby prematurely and discarded the child in an open trash pile behind a home in Hollister.
The woman, 25, is being held in the Southeastern Ohio Regional Jail for alleged probation violation, according to the jail's web site. As of Thursday, she had not been charged in the current investigation, so The Messenger is not using her name in today's edition.
"What we have is a reported deceased child of some sort," said Athens County Assistant Prosecutor Keller Blackburn. "The issue is that there was a pregnancy and - based on the evidence we have at this time - that pregnancy is no longer in existence and there is a deceased baby of some age. Our research finds that the child was at least six months along, based on the information we have at this time."
Blackburn said that while in the jail earlier, the woman allegedly told inmates she had a baby prematurely and had caused the death of the baby due to her own heroin use.
"She told them she had buried the child in the backyard, she was concerned she might be charged with murder," Blackburn said. "She recanted that story after meeting with law enforcement officers. She said that she'd only said that part of the story because she was fearful that they would be too outraged with what she had actually done. She said she had wrapped the child up in a towel, put it in a trash bag and thrown it out in the trash behind the home where all the other trash is located."
This case is being investigated by the Nelsonville Police Department, the Athens County Sheriff's Office and the Ohio Adult Parole Authority, in cooperation with the Southeastern Ohio Regional Jail.
Blackburn said that on Tuesday, the Nelsonville Police Department and Athens County Sheriff's Office got a tip from the jail that a woman had discarded a child she had given birth to, she claimed, prematurely.
"Officers interviewed four inmates as well as one person who had since been released from the jail and all gave similar stories as to the incident," Blackburn said. "The Nelsonville Police Depart-ment then made contact with the Athens County Sheriff's Office and Adult Parole Authority. Those three agencies worked together and then contacted myself and we went out ... at around 8:30 that evening. We spent about 20 hours working on the case, from 8:30 to a little after 5 p.m. on Wednesday," Blackburn said.
Blackburn then stated that information was gathered from David Mehl of Nelsonville, who allegedly misdirected officers by saying that the woman could be found in Albany. Mehl, 19, has been charged in Athens County Municipal Court with felony obstruction of justice. He is being held on $10,000 bond and has a preliminary hearing scheduled for Wednesday.
Blackburn also alleged that Lauren Milstead of Nelsonville provided officers with false information and that Milstead was allegedly harboring the woman in her home on Jefferson Street in Nelsonville. Milstead also is under a $10,000 bond and has a preliminary hearing scheduled for Wednesday on a felony obstruction of justice charge.
Blackburn said that after the woman suspected of giving birth to the child was apprehended, she made statements to officers which led to a house on Penn Street in Hollister. He said search warrants were executed early Wednesday morning and he and officers from the three departments found bloody underwear and a towel with holes in it.
Officers were unable to locate the baby.
"Based on discussions with the coroner, the Bureau of Criminal Investigation and Identification, hours of police work and recovered evidence ... sadly the child's remains have probably been eaten by an animal," Blackburn said.
Blackburn said the woman could face a charge of tampering with evidence regarding the disposal of the body. He said the woman could be charged in municipal court, or the case taken directly to a grand jury.
