To The Center

After giving birth to her child in the bathroom, a 14-year-old girl is facing first degree murder charges for the death of the baby.

A 911 call was received on September 28 to the Polk County Sherriff’s Office in regards to a full term baby being found in a shoebox. The baby had been wrapped up in soiled clothing and put in the box and then the girl hid it, according to HLN.

The mother was sorting through laundry and smelt a foul odor coming from a storage stool. She then saw a plastic bag containing wet clothing, which she placed in the kitchen sink to sort through. Upon sorting through the items the mother located the deceased baby. The mother then called her sister who then called the police.

The 14-year-old girl had given birth to the baby on September 19. She told detectives she began feeling sick two days earlier and then two days later she ended up giving birth. To prevent anyone from noticing she clenched her teeth with a towel and ran the water, according to Digital Journal.

She delivered the baby in the bathroom and used scissors to pry it out of the toilet.  She then checked for a pulse and when she realized the baby had one she put her hands around the infant’s neck and squeezed it until it stopped breathing.

She bathed herself and the baby and then put it in the soiled clothes and put the baby in a shoebox. She then cleaned the bathroom and hid the shoebox.

HLN also reports that the girl decided to “terminate the life of the child because she was afraid her relationship with her parents would change,” according to the police affidavit. She wore baggy loose clothes to hide her pregnancy from others.

The baby boy was 9.5 pounds and was breathing before his death. There were 32 contusions, hemorrhages, and severe head trauma, “which is consistent with the head being struck repeatedly by scissors,” according to the police affidavit.

The girl is now charged with first degree murder and aggravated child abuse. She is being held in the Polk County Juvenile Detention Facility.