Posted on 01/05/2004 6:16:05 AM PST by 2banana
Woman charged with leaving her newborn in toilet
Police say the Mount Ephraim mother intended to dispose of the baby, who is in critical condition.
By Frank Kummer
Inquirer Staff Writer
MOUNT EPHRAIM - A borough woman who gave birth to a girl in a toilet Saturday has been charged with attempted murder, authorities say, for planning to leave the baby to die and then dispose of the body.
But the baby's head was out of the water, and she was breathing when the woman's boyfriend rescued her - minutes before doctors say the premature infant would have perished.
Denise Marie Winner, 42, of Mount Ephraim Avenue, a mother of two other children, is also charged with endangering the welfare of a child, Camden County Prosecutor Vincent P. Sarubbi said.
Winner, a former pizza shop worker, was held on $200,000 bail. Hospitalized yesterday, she was expected to be transferred to the Camden County jail today. She is barred from having contact with the infant.
Authorities say Winner was 71/2 months pregnant and had hid her pregnancy from her 52-year-old live-in boyfriend.
"This was a beautiful, young girl," Sarubbi said of the baby. "It is inconceivable how someone could do this... . These cases are among the most difficult our office investigates."
The baby - whom authorities had no name for as of last night - was in critical condition in an incubator at an undisclosed hospital.
The baby weighed 3 pounds, 2 ounces when it arrived at the hospital. Doctors say her chances of survival are good and that her temperature had recovered to normal after dipping to 82 degrees.
Sarubbi said he could not disclose Winner's motive.
Winner and her boyfriend shared the top floor of a two-story stucco building in an alley off the Black Horse Pike.
Sometime after 3 p.m. Saturday, Winner sent her boyfriend to a drugstore for sanitary napkins and aspirin, authorities said. While he was gone, she "went to the bathroom, sat on the toilet, and gave birth" about 3:42 p.m, Sarubbi said.
Winner's boyfriend returned to hear "a faint crying sound" in the bathroom, investigators said. Sensing something was wrong, he entered the bathroom and spotted a bath mat on top of the closed toilet seat.
He removed the mat, lifted the lid, and discovered the baby, authorities said.
He pulled the infant from the water, wrapped her in a towel and shirt, and called 911 at 4:17 p.m. In all, the newborn was in the toilet for at least 30 minutes, officials said.
Authorities did not know yesterday whether the boyfriend was the baby's father.
"In all likelihood, he saved the baby," Sarubbi said of Winner's boyfriend, who was not named. "Because of the coldness of the bowl and the water temperature, this child could have expired."
The baby would have died if she had remained in the toilet another 30 minutes or so, Sarubbi said doctors told him.
Winner was charged with attempted murder because investigators believe she planned to conceal the infant's birth and death, possibly planning to hide the body in plastic bags found nearby.
"It was her intention to eventually dispose of the fetus," Sarubbi said. "It was her intention to somehow remove the child from the toilet."
A man who answered the door at Winner's apartment last night identified himself as the boyfriend.
"There's no story here," he said. "It's an everyday thing."
With that he insisted that reporters leave.
Danny Rizzi, manager of Carollo's Family Restaurant & Pizza across Kings Highway from Winner's apartment, said Winner agreed to leave her job there after continued personal problems and showing up for work smelling of alcohol.
She worked there for about a year and was generally a nice person, quiet and a good worker, he said.
But Winner sensed she was about to be fired about 21/2 months ago and agreed to resign, Rizzi said.
"She was very sad, I have to say," Rizzi said of Winner's personality. "You would look at her and could tell there was something wrong. But she was such a good worker, real easygoing."
Sarubbi said Winner did not have a history of mental illness. He said he did not know of Winner's current relationship with her other children, who do not live with her, or whether she had been married.
His investigation continues, and his office was awaiting a toxicology report.
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Contact staff writer Frank Kummer at 856-779-3220 or fkummer@phillynews.com.
But the baby's head was out of the water, and she was breathing when the woman's boyfriend rescued her
He removed the mat, lifted the lid, and discovered the baby, authorities said.
Nothing to see here, just an attempted post birth abortion. It is not as if this was any less cruel than a partial birth abortion...
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But if she had gone to a doctor and had it's brains sucked out it would have been perfectly legal.
I think the trend is that every person is a fetus until they are 18 years old. It is strange to see the term fetus used for a born baby
Yet at 7-1/2 months pregnant, had this woman been inside an abortionist's office or clinic, to "quietly dispose" of this "beautiful, young girl" by partial birth abortion or some such "acceptable" method, would anyone have noticed, even so much as batted an eyelash?!
"There's no story here," he said. "It's an everyday thing."
If this happens every day, remind me not to move into that apartment complex.
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