Chapter 1: Pregnant teen missing since April 30
A 19 year old woman, Marlen Ochoa from the Southwest Side of Chicago, married, the mother of a three-year-old, and nine months pregnant, was reported missing on May 2nd. Her family believed she had been kidnapped and reported receiving ransom demands from Mexico.
Chapter 2: Baby found in alley
As reported by NBC-owned Channel 5 in Chicago:
A newborn baby was found abandoned on top of a trash can Tuesday in Hermosa on the Northwest Side.
A passerby noticed the baby boy in an alley at 1714 N. Keystone Avenue and took the him to a firehouse, Chicago police said. Paramedics took the baby in critical condition to Norwegian American Hospital at 4:11 p.m.
The baby’s condition was stabilized hours later before he was transported to Lurie Children’s Hospital downtown, a fire department spokesman said.
Chapter 3: Ochoa family states that baby found in alley may belong to Marlen
From ABC-owned Channel 7 News in Chicago:
Ochoa-Uriostegui's family are calling for a DNA test to be performed to identify whether or not she is the mother of the baby.
"If that baby is hers, it's a sign she's alive and is somewhere around here," her mother said Wednesday.Chapter 4: 16 year old girl identified as mother of abandoned baby
As reported by WGN-TV Channel 9 in Chicago:
CHICAGO -- Chicago police have confirmed a 16-year-old girl is the mother of a newborn found abandoned in an alley on the Northwest Side.Chapter 5: Woman and daughter who reported finding baby abandoned in alley have been identified by police as mother and grandmother of baby; both now facing criminal charges
A woman and her daughter discovered the baby boy Tuesday night in Chicago's Hermosa neighborhood. He was on top of a garbage bag, inside a shopping bag with his umbilical cord was still attached. The cord was not clamped, so he was bleeding. They brought the baby to a fire station, and a fire department spokesman said the baby was “blue, unresponsive, no pulse.” Firefighters shocked the baby back to life, and then he was transported to a hospital. The baby was initially in critical condition, but is now stabilized at Lurie Children's Hospital.
Police began questioning the 16-year-old girl Wednesday night, and she is described as emotionally traumatized. The baby's father is also being questioned. The young parents have apparently indicated a misinterpretation of the Safe Haven Law
CHICAGO — The teenage parents of a newborn left atop a trash can in Chicago are facing attempted murder charges. The infant's grandmother is accused of lying to police about finding the baby boy.Chapter 6: Marlen Ochoa's remains found in backyard in Southwest Side of Chicago
The 16-year-old mother and 17-year-old father appeared Friday in juvenile court. The teens are not being named because they are juveniles.
Police say the girl gave birth, wrapped the boy in a towel and placed him atop a garbage can Tuesday in Chicago's Hermosa neighborhood. Police said the father put the baby in a bag before calling his 37-year-old mother, Karla Antimo, and told her the baby was dead.
Antimo told investigators she went to get the baby but later realized the the infant was not dead. She told police she drove the baby to the fire station and said she found it in the alley. The baby had to be resuscitated and was taken to the hospital.
From the Chicago Tribune:
The body of a 19-year-old pregnant woman reported missing last month was found behind a Southwest Side home, strangled, hours after several people at the home were taken into custody, according to authorities.If there is any bright side to these stories, it's that both babies are alive (so far). Both come into the world leaving a trail of ruined lives behind them. Teenage parents apparently got the Safe Haven Law tragically wrong. And mental illness apparently played a part in a young mom being strangled and the baby cut out of her womb. Fear, ignorance, mental illness, evil. Come, Lord Jesus.
The baby was cut out of the woman’s body after she was slain and remains in “grave” condition, according to the Chicago Police Department’s chief spokesman, Anthony Guglielmi.
Yikes, Jim! I could say that Chicago sounds pretty wild. Except there was a similar story in Omaha a few years back. Unfortunately such stories aren't rare in our country. I wonder if they happen in Europe and the UK with similar frequency.
ReplyDeleteNearly every state has safe haven laws now. It always blows my mind when people don't avail themselves of them. Hint: the top of a trash can isn't a safe haven by anyone's definition.
When I was in high school we had to take a class in basic first aid. Part of the text included tying an umbilical cord if you had to assist a birth in an emergency. It isn't rocket science. And one could always call 911 in a city, or even a smaller town.
Which leads me to wonder if immigration status in the case of the 16 year old wasn't a factor.
Immigration status. Religion? Language difficulties? Could be the only English speakers in the family are one who is dead and one who is under arrest.
DeleteI had never even heard of Safe Haven laws until I read this. I had to google it. So, it's likely that many young, poorly educated poor people, including those for whom English is not their primary language, may not have heard of them also. It's also likely that the young woman had never had any kind of pre-natal care where someone might have told her about options - Safe Havens, adoption agencies etc.
ReplyDeleteNebraska's safe haven law went into effect in 2008. At first the age cutoff for the child was 18. Which led to some unexpected results. There weren't any infants relinquished at first. But there were several teenagers, including some from out of state who were brought in and dropped off by parents who apparently thought teens were more trouble than newborns. The law was quickly changed, I believe the age cutoff is now two months. I hope the teens and their parents were directed into counselling.
DeleteI am tempted to respond to "Jesus, do something" prayers in cases like this the same way The Boy did when I suggested we pray to St. Francis to help his cat come home safely: What good will that do!? Get a flashlight and start looking!
ReplyDeleteJesus ain't coming to clear this up for us and tie a bow on it. Most of this is on us and our ability to be stupid and callous.
The teen parents should not be facing attempted murder if they freaked out after delivering a baby themselves.
The grandmother availed herself of safe haven, which is supposed to be a no-questions-asked law. The cops asked, and she is now facing charges basically because she saved the baby's life.
The thing to do here is to get the safe haven law more widely understood and to figure out what drove these kids to leave a baby on a garbage can and address root causes.
I'm not sure where insanity comes into this picture but jails and homeless shelters are full of insane people because we don't want to provide adequate care. So we better learn to live with these stories until we do.
The poor murdered woman, yeah, only Jesus can help her now.
Yes, all 50 states and the District of Columbia have Safe Haven laws now. Illinois' law allows a child to be dropped off, no questions asked, within 30 days of birth. Different states have different provisions.
ReplyDeleteJean, you make a good point about the grandmother and the cops. If the grandmother had said, "I just gave birth to this child and I am leaving it here under the Safe Haven Law", then in theory she could have turned around and walked out. Presumably she said something along the lines of, "We found this baby in an alley on top of a garbage can." At least in Illinois, that would be 'out of scope' for the Safe Haven law: it needs to be one of the parents who does the dropping off.
I say "in theory" she could have turned around and walked out because, even though firemen, policemen, nurses et al are supposed to understand the law, we've found that they don't always. I belong to an organization that tries to promote knowledge of the law, and we've found, for example, that hospital employees and volunteers - such as those who sit at the information desk when you walk through the front door - aren't very familiar with the law. It would go against a cop's instincts to refrain from asking questions if someone literally plops a strange baby in their laps.
Safe Haven rules are taught in high school health classes. I quiz my children about the law sometimes. They know there is such a thing but they're not able to recite the specific provisions, e.g. in Illinois, the child may be dropped off at a police station, fire station, staffed emergency facility or college security office. The child can't be left elsewhere, even a church, a government building or other places that might occur to a stressed parent.
Btw, Jean, I agree with you that some mercy should be in order for the 16 year old mom, the 17 year old dad, and the grandmother. I hope charges are reduced or dropped.
And I also agree with you regarding possible immigration status and language barriers complicating parents' willingness and ability to apply the Safe Haven laws to their situations. My observation is that a disproportionate number of babies who are abandoned illegally in Illinois are the children of parents whose first language is not English.
I have seen bilingual signs in public elevators giving basic information about safe haven. I think that is a good idea.
DeleteI have also read about one instance where the mother who brought a baby in to a safe haven was in the throes of postpartum depression. Someone did ask questions of her and got help for her. The baby was in foster care for a while, but she really did not want to give him up. They were reunited after she was stabilized.
So I can see where a blanket "no questions asked" rule is not always for the best. Maybe a "no punishment" rule is more to the point.
Yes, Katherine, a "no punishment" clause would be good. As Jim points out, cops want to sort these things out. But seems to me that Gramma bringing in a newborn like this is not guilty of a crime.
DeleteYeah, Jean, I agree. The Gramma was trying to do the best she could.
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