GABRIEL WEEHLER-SMITH - 4 months (4/2014) - / Charged: Father, Drew James Weehler-Smith - Des Moines, IA

by twinkletoes Fri Apr 25, 2014 4:23 pm

Baby adopted by Iowa couple, then taken back by birth mother, found dead

Baby death investigated in Des Moines

4-month-old Gabriel had been with 16-year-old biological mom only a few weeks. When she went out to run errands, the baby died while staying with his 17-year-old dad.

BY [url=http://www.nydailynews.com/authors?author=Deborah Hastings]Deborah Hastings[/url]
NEW YORK DAILY NEWS
Published: Thursday, April 24, 2014, 1:59 PM
Updated: Thursday, April 24, 2014, 1:59 PM

WHO-HD This was little Gabriel’s crib when he started his life with adoptive parents in Ankeny, Iowa. Last month, his birth mother changed her mind. On Thursday, he was found dead.

Things should have turned out much differently for little Gabriel.

Just a month ago, he was the new son of an Iowa couple who adopted him at birth from a teenage mother they supported financially and emotionally throughout her pregnancy.

On Thursday he was found dead, his tiny body lying in a chair, a bottle of milk at his side.

His 16-year-old mother had changed her mind in March and reclaimed her baby. She had left him in the care of his 17-year-old father, Drew James Weehler-Smith, on Thursday while she ran errands.

In less than an hour, Gabriel was dead.

“She was clearly distraught. She reacted appropriately for a parent faced with this kind of death,” Des Moines Police Sgt. Jason Halifax told the Daily News.

“She isn’t suspected of anything at this point.”

The teenage father has been charged with neglect and may face additional charges pending the results of an autopsy.

WHO-HD Rachel, left, and Heidi McFarland were devastated when the birth mother of a son they adopted demanded her baby back in March. On Thursday, he was found dead at the age of 4 months. WHO-HD Des Moines Police responded to a 911 call from this apartment building, where they found the body of a 4-month-old boy. His teenage father has been charged with neglect and could face additional charges pending the results of an autopsy.

Rachel and Heidi McFarland, Gabriel’s adoptive parents, had their hearts ripped out all over again when they saw a news report about the baby’s death on television.

“It’s like he’s been taken away from you again,” Rachel McFarland told the Des Moines Register.

“We brought him home from the hospital,” she said. “I cut his umbilical cord.”

The adoptive couple cared for their new son for more than two months, thinking they were starting a new family, when the teenage mother changed her mind and demanded her baby back.

Under Iowa law, a birth mother has three months, plus a 31-day probationary period, to change her mind about adoption.

The infant’s mother had only been gone a few minutes Thursday when a friend phoned her to ask if she trusted Weehler-Smith with Gabriel.

The friend had just come from the couple’s apartment and saw Weehler-Smith holding the baby.

GABRIEL WEEHLER-SMITH - 4 months (4/2014) - / Charged: Father, Drew James Weehler-Smith - Des Moines, IA 11333054

GABRIEL WEEHLER-SMITH - 4 months (4/2014) - / Charged: Father, Drew James Weehler-Smith - Des Moines, IA 11333054

It wasn’t clear what alarmed the friend, Halifax said.

“There’s some kind of history with the father, but we’re not certain of the details,” he told The News.

The mother asked her friend to go back to the apartment. When the friend got there, she saw the dad driving away.

The mother raced home and called 911 after finding Gabriel in a baby-sized rocker. He was not breathing.

Rachel McFarland said she and her partner must start the healing process anew.

“We’re just left to put the pieces back together,” she said.

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/iowa-baby-reclaimed-birth-mother-found-dead-teenage-dad-charged-article-1.1767653#ixzz2ztS6Yrv8