Mother of abandoned, buried LA baby had hidden pregnancy
The mother of a newborn baby that was found buried alive under a block of asphalt near a Los Angeles walking path, had hidden her pregnancy for months from friends and family, the Washington Post reported.
According to Sgt. Richard Ruiz of the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department, the mother, identified on Monday as 33-year-old Porche Williams, arrived at the hospital on Nov. 23 stressed and panicked.
"She was afraid. She didn't want people to know that she was pregnant and had hidden her pregnancy from family and friends," he said. He would not tell reporters whether the child's father was aware of the pregnancy or not, Ruiz added that Washington "did not want to deliver the baby."
Washington and her newborn daughter were released from the hospital three days later, on Thanksgiving. The following afternoon, two passers-by heard what they believed to be faint cries coming from a baby.
“My sister said, ‘Can you hear a baby crying?’ And I said, ‘No, I don’t know,’” Angelica Blount told CBS Los Angeles. “That might be a cat. And she said, ‘No, that is a baby.’”
After the two woman didn't see a baby on the path, they called 911.
When sheriff's deputies arrived, they determined the cries were coming from a hole in the path's pavement. Deputies removed debris from the area and found the infant, whose cries had now become muted and weak, in a crevice of broken pavement still wrapped in a hospital blanket.
The newborn was cold to the touch when Deputy Adam Collette removed her from the rubble-encased crevice and appeared to be 24- to 36-hours old at the time. Medical personnel said it is likely she would not have survived the cold night had she not been discovered that day.
Officials said they were able to identify Washington as the baby's mother due to the clue of the hospital blanket. Once authorities identified her through the hospital where she delivered the baby, people who knew Washington helped lead police to her, Ruiz said.
The State of California enacted the "Safe Surrender" law in 2001, which allows legal guardians to anonymously surrender their children at hospitals, fire stations and other designated sites within 72 hours of birth without fear of prosecution.
It's unclear if Washington was aware of the "Safe Surrender" law, because her infant was just over a day old when she was abandoned and she would have qualified for the program.
“It’s hard to believe that someone doesn’t have a friend or a family member or someone to confide in. They get pregnant in secret, they hide the secret, then they want to throw away the secret,” Los Angeles County Supervisor Don Knabe said.
Washington pleaded not guilty on Monday to charges of attempted murder and child abuse, CBS reports. If she is convicted as charged, she faces a possible maximum sentence of life in prison.
She was ordered to be held on $1 million bail.
Contact Caitlin Lilly at clilly@reviewjournal.com. Find her on Twitter: @caitiesmith
