An 18-year-old has been arrested more than a month after a dead infant was found in a “baby box” at an Idaho hospital in mid-October, authorities said Friday.
Angel Newberry was taken into custody in Twin Falls on a felony arrest warrant for failing to report a death to law enforcement officials and the coroner, the Blackfoot Police Department said in a news release.
Her arrest followed a nearly six-week investigation conducted by city and county officials.
On Oct. 13, police responded to the Grove Creek Medical Center in Blackfoot after reports of a dead infant who had been found by medical staff in a Safe Haven Baby Box. The bassinet is intended for parents to safely and anonymously “surrender a newborn under 30 days old without legal repercussions,” which Idaho law allows “provided the child is unharmed.”
Safe Haven Baby Box founder Monica Kelsey said in a statement shared on social media that hospital staff responded immediately to an alarm indicating a baby had been placed in the box, but they quickly discovered the baby had died long before being placed in the bassinet.
According to Kelsey, the baby had been “wrapped in a blanket with the placenta still attached.”
Blackfoot police said they can only release limited information at this time due to the sensitive nature of the investigation and “the potential for further criminal charges.”
