"Jane" FLANARY - Newborn - Medford OR

Medford police say the the autopsy of the infant child is complete, but they are not releasing the results.
In a brief e-mail statement this afternoon, police say "Medford
Police understand the public’s desire for more information, however
releasing information could compromise the case. Further details will
be released at a future date. The case remains under investigation."
Police do say the baby's mother, identified only as a 19 year old Medford woman, has not been taken into custody.
The baby was found Saturday morning in a dumpster behind the Holiday
Inn Express on South Pacific Highway. Police say witnesses helped them
identify who the mother is, and she was questioned by investigators
yesterday morning.

Medford police have identified the mother of a
baby girl whose body was found Saturday in a garbage bin at the Holiday
Inn Express in south Medford.
A witness who aw the mother in the general area of the bin before and after the baby
was discovered contacted police detectives Sunday night.

Oregon's 'Safe Haven' law
Parents who are unable to care for a newborn child can sign up with an adoption
agency or legally relinquish a baby 30 days old or younger at a
hospital, doctor's office, birthing clinic, police station, sheriff's
department or fire department.
Under the state's "Safe Haven" law, the parent isn't required to answer any
questions when he or she hands over the child. The staff person who
accepts the infant is expected to contact the state's child welfare
office, which will find an adoptive home for the baby.

Based on the information the witness
provided, police were able to locate the 19-year-old mother at about 9
a.m. Monday at her home.
"She provided us with a statement, which outlined her version of what occurred," said
Medford police Detective Sgt. Mike Budreau. "We can't confirm that
until we have the results of the autopsy."
An autopsy of the baby is set for 11 a.m. today. It is expected to take two to four hours to complete, Budreau said. Budreau declined to disclose the mother's version of the story, citing the open
investigation. Police now are interviewing the woman's friends and
family and are trying to find the baby's father, he said.
"Now we know the who part," Budreau said. "We are still trying to find out the what and the why part."
The
woman lives with her mother in Medford and has no other children,
Budreau said. It's unclear whether she is employed, but she is not
enrolled in school, he said. Her name is being withheld to protect the
investigation, he said.
The female witness had seen the woman in the area of the garbage bin while she still was
pregnant and again later after the baby's body had been discovered, he
said.
Police knew how to find the woman because they interviewed her Saturday before the witness came forward, he said.
"We talked to her just briefly (Saturday) so that we could get her name,"
Budreau said. "You would think you would be able to tell if someone had
a baby or not, but it's surprisingly difficult."
Detectives interviewed all of the staff and guests at the Holiday Inn Express at
1501 S. Pacific Highway and at the adjacent Comfort Inn. They also
questioned everyone else who was in the area, including some Harry
& David employees. A Harry & David retail store is near the
hotels.
Budreau said the mother is not an employee at either of the hotels or Harry & David and was not a
guest at the Holiday Inn Express. He would not confirm whether the
woman was a guest at the Comfort Inn.
The baby's body was discovered Saturday by a homeless man who was searching through the garbage bin for recyclables.
Parents who have a stillborn infant are required by law to contact police to
report the birth, Budreau said. Police will conduct a cause-of-death
investigation to determine if the infant was a stillborn. They also can
provide information about options for low-cost or no-cost burial or
cremation services for the child, he said.
"If the person doesn't want to incur cost for a funeral there are ways
around that, but simply throwing the kid in the trash can is not an
option legally," Budreau said.

A Medford teenager was indicted Wednesday after her newborn girl was found dead inside a dumpster at a hotel.

Denise Flanary, 19, was arrested at her home last Tuesday on charges of
abuse of a corpse and concealing the birth of an infant. Flanary was
released after posting bail.

A homeless man rummaging for cans behind the Holiday Inn Express on
Highway 99 found the infant’s body on August 15 and called police.

The mother of a newborn baby found dead inside a
garbage bin at a south Medford hotel in August has been sentenced to
two years' probation and 80 hours of community service, under a plea
bargain reached Friday.
Denise L. Flanary,
19, of Medford, looked exhausted with dark circles under her eyes as
she stood before Jackson County Circuit Court Judge Tim Barnack Friday
and changed her plea from not guilty to guilty of felony abuse of a
corpse.
The state dropped a second charge of concealing the birth of an infant.
"All of the evidence seems to confirm you did not try to kill this child," Barnack said. "You tried to save this child."
Flanary
told investigators that her infant girl was born dead with an umbilical
cord wrapped around her neck at Flanary's home where Flanary lives with
her mother, said Prosecutor David Hoppe. She attempted to perform
mouth-to-mouth resuscitation on the baby, but the baby was already
dead, Hoppe said.
Autopsy results were
consistent with Flanary's story, he said. The baby had air in her
lungs, marks on her neck where the umbilical cord likely was wound and
bruises on her chest, the autopsy showed.
Flanary also passed a polygraph test of her account, Hoppe said.
"We
felt this was a just resolution," Hoppe said. "It's clear her intention
was not to harm her own child. In fact, she did what she could to
resuscitate the child."
But, Hoppe added, the way she disposed of the body was "abhorrent."
"She realizes she has to pay a price for having done so," he said.