An Idaho teen is behind bars after the baby's body was found in a hospital drop-off box where babies were anonymously dropped off.
Angel Newberry, 18, was a medical officer who found her dead baby girl wrapped in a blanket with the placenta still attached inside the Safe Haven Baby Box at Grove Creek Medical Center in Blackfoot. An arrest has been made in Twin Falls, more than a month after officials discovered him, authorities announced Friday.
“The Safe Haven Baby Box is intended to allow parents to safely and anonymously hand over their newborn infant under 30 days of age without legal repercussions, provided the child is intact.” the Blackfoot Police Department said in a social media post.
“Unfortunately, the detention of injured or dead infants is not protected by the Idaho law system.”
Hospital staff immediately responded to an alarm indicating a baby had been placed in a box on October 13 and made the alarming discovery that the newborn had died long before it was abandoned. According to Safe Haven Baby Boxes.
Under Idaho law, only unharmed infants can be surrendered.
“We are heartbroken,” Safe Haven Baby Box founder Monica Kelsey said last month.
“Let me be clear: this is illegal and deadly abandonment.”
Police said the juvenile defendant was charged with failure to report a death to a law enforcement officer and a coroner.
Additional charges may be filed as the circumstances surrounding the infant's death remain under investigation.
She is being held in the Bingham County Jail.
