A 21-year-old woman from Pennsylvania has been charged with concealing the death of a child after she hid the dead body of her newborn baby. She told police officials that she was unaware of her pregnancy before she gave birth at home and that her baby was unresponsive.
In a report by ABC News, the woman has been identified as Kelsey Martin of Springettsbury Township. After placing the dead newborn inside a shoebox, she stored it in an upstairs closet. She was charged just this January 28, eight months after the incident took place.
Officials said that Martin went to a hospital last April with abdominal pains. It was where she was told she had a urinary tract infection and had to take antibiotics. Later that day, at around 10 P.M., Martin bled heavily and was taken to a hospital via an ambulance. An examination showed that she gave birth but denied it as per police officials' statements, FOX 43 reported.
Eventually, the woman told officials that earlier in the day, she thought that she had to go to the bathroom but gave birth instead. The baby was not breathing and she said she shook the baby in hopes of hearing a response. After her attempts, she hid the baby in the shoebox.
Officials and family members found two boxes inside the closet. One was with bloodied clothing and the other was with the newborn's body. The officials and family members tried to perform CPR on the baby but was later pronounced dead. An autopsy was not able to determine if the child was born alive, ABC 27 reported.
The woman who was living with her grandparents lied about the blood on the floor saying she hit her nose on a dresser.
The lawyer of Martin, Christopher Ferro, said in a statement that the incident is horrible but explainable, noting that the public should not judge his client. He added, "This is a highly emotional case and I would only ask that the public withhold final judgement and respect Kelsey's family and her presumption of innocence."
A preliminary hearing for the case is scheduled for March 31. It remains unclear why the woman was charged only eight months after.
