Police Hunt Mother Who Gave Birth and Killed Newborn Baby in Chicago Salvation Army Store
A body of a newborn baby was found in a trash can at a Salvation Army store in Streamwood, Chicago, on Friday.
The baby is believed to have been born alive and strangled to death with a plastic bag in which the body was found in. The umbilical cord was still attached and the placenta was also at the scene.
According to a press release from Streamwood police, the mother is a Hispanic female aged between 14 and 25-years-old. She is about 5-feet-1 to 5-feet-4 tall, thin, and has dark brown hair.
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She was last seen wearing a purple hooded sweatshirt, dark sweatpants, lime green jacket and dark suede boots. A sketch of the woman has been released by police.
According to store officials, a pregnant woman walked into the store and asked to use the employee restroom. She then walked out an hour later.
Streamwood Deputy Chief James Keegan told NBC Chicago: “She looked distressed [and] disheveled. The manager sent a worker into the store to check on the status of the bathroom, discovered some blood on the floor and then subsequent to that we discovered – the worker discovered – a fetus in the wastepaper basket.
“It wasn’t premature or born with a light weight. It looked like it went through a nine-month gestation.
“The baby was delivered alive and strangled to its death.”
The Cook County medical examiner’s office ruled the infant’s death as a homicide on Saturday. The baby is believed to be born around 10:15 - 11:15 a.m. Friday. He was found at 1 p.m. by a Salvation Army employee.
