A 23-year-old woman picked up in Amherstburg faces two criminal charges in case of dead baby found in Richmond Street dumpster

By Azzura Lalani, The London Free Press

Sunday, June 19, 2016 6:04:21 EDT PM

London Police investigators examine a dumpster behind an apartment building on Mill Street in London, Ontario where the body of a baby was found on Thursday June 16, 2016. MORRIS LAMONT / THE LONDON FREE PRESS / POSTMEDIA NETWORK

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A 23-year-old woman, picked up over the weekend in the Windsor area, is charged in the dumpster baby case that shocked London last week and triggered an urgent plea by police to find the dead child’s mother.

Details about the woman remained scant Sunday, with tight-lipped London police not saying who she is or where she’s from — only that she was found in Amherstburg, just outside of Windsor, and was arrested Saturday with the help of Amherstburg town police.

Amherstburg police would not say anything about the mystery Sunday, telling a reporter to call back Monday.

London police said they would not identify the woman because they want to protect her welfare.

The woman was charged with not asking for help in childbirth, formally known as “neglect to obtain assistance in childbirth,” and with disposing of a child’s body after delivery.

Both charges are Criminal Code offences.

The London police force’s major crime section is conducting the investigation.

Londoners were taken aback last Thursday when a homeless man rooting through a garbage container off London’s Richmond Row bar strip came across the body of the infant, which was in a black President’s Choice cloth grocery bag. The discovery — police did not say whether the infant was a boy or a girl — was made behind a residential building at Richmond and Mill streets.

In the early going, police said their investigation was not considered a homicide probe but they appealed for the public’s help to find the child’s mother, saying they were concerned about her health and well-being.

The woman charged was taken for medical attention and transported back to London by city police.

She would have made an initial court appearance over the weekend through a video link from her detention centre, police said.

London police have said they’re not seeking anyone else in the case at this time, but encourage anyone with information about it to contact them, at 519 661-5670 , or Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-8477 or londoncrimestoppers.com

— With Windsor Star file

My Thoughts

This is really sad. I don't understand why this girl didn't call for help or go to a hospital. How could someone throw away a baby. being young, if I told my parents I got my girlfriend pregnant I know they would be mad at first but they would have to get over it. This girl is 23 and she should know better. She could have given the child up for adoption or something like that. Now she faces all kinds of charges and has ruined her life. I think she had to have been mentally sick to do something like that nd not just scared.