"Newborn John" BLACKHAM - Hours old - Found in restroom - Greenville SC

A cleaning crew at the Bi-Lo Center found a newborn baby in a public restroom toilet on Friday night.Greenville
emergency medical services and police responded to a call at about
11:30 p.m. following a circus performance. Police say that the baby boy
is alive and has been transported to the Children's Hospital at
Greenville Memorial Hospital where he is being treated for hypothermia.Police
believe the child was born between 9:30 p.m. and 10:30 p.m. on Friday
and they are currently seeking information that will help them identify
and locate the mother.

Greenville police are reviewing surveillance video to try to find a
mother who gave birth to a baby, then abandoned the boy inside the Bi-Lo
Center late Friday night.

According to Sgt. Jason Rampey, the newborn baby boy was found inside a toilet in one of the female restrooms.

Rampey says the infant was found by maintenance workers that were
there to cleanup after the circus. One of them heard the baby
whimpering, and then found it in the toilet. It appears the infant was
about an hour and a half old. "We don't think it's physically possible
that the mother would not know she had given birth to this child," says
Rampey. "So we certainly think this child was abandoned purposely."

The newborn is currently at Greenville Memorial in critical condition
suffering from hypothermia and other medical conditions. Once
released, he will be turned over to the Department of Social Services.

Police are asking for the mother to come forward because she may need
medical attention. Still, whoever she is, the woman could face serious
charges. "If we believe the child was purposely abandoned, then
certainly there would be charges against that person."

Daniel's Law, established in South Carolina in 2000, allows mothers
to give up their newborns, if they take them to a designated "safe
haven". Such places include a hospital, police department, fire
station, or church, if the church is staffed at the time of abandonment.
As long as the child is unharmed, the law protects the mother from
prosecution.

Anyone with information on the case is asked to call the Greenville Police Department, or Crimestoppers at 23-CRIME.
http://www.independentmail.com/news/2011/feb/07/newborn-baby-found-toilet-bi-lo-center/

Newborn found alive in toilet

GREENVILLE, SOUTH CAROLINA (WLBT) - A shocking discovery made by a cleaning crew at a Greenville, South Carolina arena.
A newborn baby was left inside the toilet of a public restroom following a circus performance at the Bi-Lo Center Friday night.
Doctors at a local children's hospital are
treating the baby boy for hypothermia. Investigators believe the baby
was born between 9:30 and 10:30 that night and was discovered at about
11:30 p.m. Police are now trying to identify and locate the mother.
http://www.wlbt.com/Global/story.asp?S=13980138

GREENVILLE, S.C. -- The woman believed
to have given birth to a baby she abandoned in a toilet at the BI-LO
Center in Greenville has been arrested, and two of her family members
ended up handcuffed Tuesday after their angry confrontation with a WYFF 4 news crew.

Jessica Blackham

Tuesday afternoon, Greenville police arrested 24-year-old Jessica Blackham, of
Easley. WYFF News 4 has learned that Blackham is married with a
4-year-old child. She is charged with felony child abuse and unlawful
neglect. Police said that there is not enough evidence to call for an
attempted murder charge at this point in the investigation.The
condition of the newborn baby boy, who was suffering from hypothermia
when a cleaning crew found him Friday night after a circus performance
at the venue, is improving, according to South Carolina Department of
Social Services officials.Greenville police Sgt. Jason Rampey
said the infant weighs about 6 pounds. The newborn is in critical
condition at Greenville Memorial Hospital, but DSS officials said he is
now considered stable.When a WYFF 4 photojournalist tried to
record video of the newborn's mother, sister and father arriving at the
Law Enforcement Center, the sister and father became aggressive.

Raw Video: BI-LO Baby's Relatives Confront News Crew
The relatives were taken into the LEC, but the News 4 photojournalist decided not to press charges.
Worker Finds Newborn, Calls 911
A 911 call made by a man working with the cleaning crew that
found the newborn baby details the care he gave to the infant with the
instruction of a Greenville dispatcher.

Dispatcher: EMS fire, what's the address of the emergency?Caller: We found a newborn baby in a toilet. Can you please send an ambulance or something?Dispatcher: Is the baby breathing?Caller:
It's breathing. It's newborn. My supervisor take it off from the toilet
already. We tried to clean the nose, but not much, we don't anything
about it. You know?Dispatcher: Do you have a blanket or anything like that on the baby?Caller: We put a blanket already on the topDispatcher: OK. Make sure you keep the baby warm.Dispatcher:
Just make sure that they can gently wipe off the baby's mouth and nose.
Dry the baby off with a clean towel, OK, or a cloth. Just keep the baby
wrapped in a clean, dry cloth or towel.Caller: OK. We're doing that right now.Dispatcher: Make sure that you cover the baby's head, but not its face, OK.

The cleaning crew found the infant at about 11:30 Friday night, according to police.The dispatcher instructed the man to tie a string around the newborn's umbilical cord.

Dispatcher: Now how's the baby doing?Caller: He's doing better.

Police said they found evidence that indicated the child was born in the bathroom Friday between 9:30 and 10:30 p.m.

---

Scene Images: Newborn Found At BI-LO Center

http://www.wyff4.com/news/26794279/detail.html

This topic was already being covered in Unresolved. I am now merging the two....

The South Carolina woman accused of giving birth in an arena toilet
during the circus and leaving the baby told her family afterward she was
bleeding heavily, but didn't know why.As 24–year–old Jessica
Blackham checked herself into a hospital six miles away, a cleaning crew
found the 6–pound boy, his skin purple and breathing so labored he
could barely cry. The custodians desperately followed a 911 operator's
directions, one of them even whispering "vas a estar bien, bebe" (you're
going to be OK, baby) as he used his finger to sweep some mucus from
boy's mouth. The baby is in good condition at a hospital.
The details of Friday night came into focus when the cleaning crew
talked to the media Wednesday about their discovery, and Blackham's
mother tried to explain to a judge what had occurred."She had
amnesia, couldn't remember what happened. She went there (to the
hospital) of her own accord because she knew she was bleeding and
something was wrong," Anita McAuliffe said at her daughter's bond
hearing.Jessica Blackham went to the circus with her sister and
her family, but without her 4–year–old daughter. She has no idea what
happened after she entered the cramped pink stall, giving birth and
passing her placenta in a space less than three feet across, likely
toward the end of the show. McAuliffe was not at the circus and it's
unclear whether Blackham went straight to the hospital or somewhere else
after the event.Blackham has cooperated with police since the hospital notified
investigators of her condition hours after she arrived."She's had periods.
There's been no sign whatsoever of her pregnancy," McAuliffe said.Blackham
is charged with one count of felony child abuse and one count of
unlawful neglect toward a child. Her bond was set at $30,000, and jail
records indicate she has been released. If convicted of both charges,
she could face up to 30 years in prison.Blackham told the judge
she had an idea who the baby's father was, but it wasn't her husband,
whom she had been separated from for nearly a year.Blackham's
husband told WYFF–TV his wife's mental condition went downhill while
they were married and he urged her to get help. He can't believe she
didn't know she was pregnant."She has so much family that's backed her up.
I don't know what happened," Thomas Blackham said.McAuliffe
said her daughter's husband became abusive after returning from a year
in Iraq, a charge Thomas Blackham vehemently denied in the television
interview.Investigators estimate the baby was left behind for 90
minutes before a cleaning crew pushed open the closed stall door and
found the infant, his feet in the water and head on the rim of the
toilet. They immediately told their supervisors Eder Serrano and Marco
Calle, who rushed inside.The blood and gore, which Calle would only describe as
"awful," stunned Serrano for about 15 seconds."First
thing I told him was wear gloves if you're going to grab the baby,"
Serrano recalled telling his co–worker. "It was too late. He had already
grabbed the baby."Calle, a 41–year–old father of three ranging
in age from 10 to 17, put the baby on the bathroom's changing table,
whispering "vas a estar bien, bebe."By that time, Serrano had
called 911 and was relaying in Spanish the operator's instructions.
Calle, so nervous that his hands were shaking, tied a string around the
umbilical cord to cut it.Paramedics arrived and whisked the baby
away. Serrano and the rest of the crew answered questions from police as
investigators collected evidence from the stall.Then they went back to work.
After all, there were events in just a few hours."I am the supervisor.
I had to clean the bathroom for the next show," Calle said.When he finally got home,
Calle couldn't sleep. On Monday, he heard the police chief say the baby should survive.
He smiled."I want to see him," Calle said. "I want to be sure he's going to be OK."

http://topnews360.tmcnet.com/topics/associated-press/articles/2011/02/12/144179-mom-woman-who-left-baby-toilet-cant-remember.htm

A foster family has been lined up for the newborn boy found in a toilet
at the Bi-Lo Center last Friday night, the Department of Social Services
said.The boy was listed in fair but stable condition at a Greenville hospital on Friday morning.DSS
said that once the boy is released from the hospital, he will be placed
with a licensed foster family until an investigation by the department
and law enforcement is complete. The agency said the findings of that
investigation will determine if the boy is reunited with his family or
if the court will decide who gets custody of the child.Jessica
Blackham, 24, of Easley, turned herself in to police on Tuesday night.
She was charged with unlawful neglect of a child and two counts of
felony child abuse, and released on $30,000 bond.Investigators
said a Bi-Lo Center employee discovered the newborn baby in the women’s
restroom. They said they believe the baby was born there. Investigators
said the child was no more than a couple of hours old when the employee
found him.The 911 dispatcher who answered the call about the discovery is also being credited with saving the newborn's life.Angellina
Ramirez said she was initially shocked to hear about the baby, but said
dispatchers must act quickly and efficiently to get the resources in
place to help those in need."You can't really prepare for that
exact situation, but you do rely back on that training you have to also
make sure everybody else is aware of what's going on and get the
appropriate units out there," Ramirez said.In a FOX Carolina
exclusive interview Wednesday, Andy McAuliffe, Blackham’s father, said
his daughter didn’t know she was pregnant.

http://www.foxcarolina.com/news/26832094/detail.html

Officials in South Carolina say the baby that was saved from a Sports Arena toilet a
few hours after his birth has been released from the hospital in good
condition.

South Carolina Social Services spokeswoman Marilyn Matheus said
Friday that the child was released a week ago. Matheus says the agency
is working on a plan for a permanent placement for the parents of the
child and the courts.


The boy's 24-year-old mother, is charged with aggravated abuse and
neglect of a child. Jessica Blackham's family said she did not
know she was pregnant and does not remember giving birth.

Blackham also a child of 4 years.

The child was found in the bathroom by cleanup crews in the Greenville Bi-Lo
Center. The workers took care of the child and called 9-1-1.