Angel Newberry, 18, was charged with failing to report a death to law enforcement officials in connection with an incident last month in which a dead infant was found inside an Idaho Save Haven Baby Box. Photo courtesy Blackfoot, Idaho, Police Department
An 18-year-old woman has been arrested in connection with the discovery of a deceased infant left in an Idaho Safe Haven Baby Box last month.
Angel Newberry of Twin Falls, Idaho, was arrested on a felony charge of failing to report a death to law enforcement officials and the coroner, police in Blackfoot said in a release issued Friday. Advertisement
Newberry’s arrest came nearly six weeks after medical personnel at Grove Creek Medical in Blackfoot found that a deceased infant had been placed inside its Safe Haven Baby Box. The box is intended to safely and anonymously allow custodial parents to surrender a newborn under 30 days old without legal repercussions, but only provided the child is unharmed.
“Unfortunately, the placement of a harmed or deceased infant is not protected under this system or Idaho law,” police said.
Newberry was booked into the Bingham County Jail, on the felony charge.
Blackfoot is about 250 miles east of Boise, Idaho.
The nonprofit provider of the baby boxes said in a statement issued on Oct. 28 that Grove Creek Medical Center staff responded immediately to a silent alarm which is designed to sound when the baby box is accessed. Advertisement
“The medical team removed the infant from the bassinet within a minute,” the group said. “Upon removal, they quickly realized that the infant had passed away long before being placed in the baby box.”
Safe Haven Baby Boxes called the incident “an illegal, deadly abandonment. Anonymity is only allowed when an infant is safely surrendered completely unharmed.”
When the baby was placed in the box, the group said, “she was wrapped in a blanket with the placenta still attached.”
