Saturday, October 28, 2006

Girl, 14, suffocated her newborn: cops

A 14-year-old Sauk Village girl suffocated her newborn daughter Wednesday to keep her mother from knowing about the birth -- even though her younger sister gave birth two weeks earlier, police said. The girl has been charged as a juvenile with first-degree murder and concealing a murder, Police Chief Thomas Lacheta said. "It's a very difficult situation when children are involved," Chief Detective Tim Holevis said. "It's very tragic." Milk found in infant's body Police said the girl gave birth to a girl at home about 3 a.m. Wednesday and then suffocated the infant and discarded her body in a trash can in the garage of the home in the 21400 block of Peterson Avenue. The girl was afraid that the birth would upset her mother, Lacheta said. Police said a family member called police Wednesday after a sister of the girl found the baby's body. Paramedics were unable to revive the infant, who was pronounced dead at 7:45 p.m., according to the Cook County medical examiner's office. The baby may have lived for several hours, Deputy Chief Thomas Mountford said. An autopsy revealed milk in the child's digestive system, indicating that the young mother had tried to feed her, Mountford said. He said police don't think anyone else in the family took part in the killing. None of the girl's eight siblings or her mother knew that she was pregnant or gave birth, Holevis said. The girl was in custody in Sauk Village as of Friday evening.
I don't even know what to say about this...it's just unbelievable.