"Newborn Jane" COX - (2010)/ Convicted: Mother; Ashley Cox - Corbin KY

A 20-year-old Corbin woman has been charged with murder after she gave
birth to a baby girl in a visitors' restroom at a state prison in La
Grange on Sunday and hid the baby in a trash bin, police said. The baby
was found dead hours later.Kentucky State Police arrested Ashley Nicole Cox on Monday and
charged her with first-degree murder and concealing the birth of an
infant.


Cox was being held at the Oldham County Jail.Preliminary
autopsy results show her baby was alive and healthy when she was born
at the Roederer Correctional Complex, police said. The cause of death
has not been determined.According to an arrest citation, Cox is accused of forcing toilet paper into the baby's mouth until it was unable to breathe.Cox
was visiting inmate Justin Bell, 21, at the medium-security men's
prison Sunday morning when she went to the bathroom near the visiting
room, according to state police and Lisa Lamb, spokeswoman for the
Kentucky Department of Corrections.Cox
had arrived about 8:45 a.m. with two other people, and after passing
through security entered the visiting room about 10 a.m., Lamb said. It
was not apparent that Cox was in labor when she went to the
single-stall restroom about 10:55 a.m., Lamb said.“No
one heard anything,” she said. “But when the staff noticed that she'd
been in there too long, they knocked on the door, got her to open the
door and saw the blood.”She said the staff reported that Cox had been in the restroom for 10 to 12 minutes.Lamb said she's not sure what explanation Cox gave, but she did not tell the staff she'd given birth.“At no time did Cox indicate she was in distress, call out for help, or try and obtain help while at the prison,” Lamb said.“The restrooms are near the visiting room, a noisy room, and Sunday's the biggest day” for visitors, she said.A medical staff member at the prison was notified about Cox's bleeding and called Oldham County EMS.EMS
director Ron Wilder said his department was responding to a call about
a miscarriage, but when the team arrived, Cox seemed to indicate there
hadn't been a miscarriage.
“I can't tell you what she said, but it led us to believe there was no fetus, just heavy bleeding,” Wilder said.
So EMS did not search for a fetus, which is standard procedure for a miscarriage, Wilder said.EMS took Cox to Baptist Hospital East at 11:44 a.m.About
4 p.m., Oldham County Dispatch notified prison employees that Cox had
given birth to a full-term baby, “but the child was missing and might
be in a trash can, in the restroom, in the visiting room,” Lamb said.Staff began to search for the baby, and Oldham dispatch alerted Kentucky State Police.The
trash bin in the restroom had been emptied after Cox was taken to the
hospital, said state police Trooper Michael Webb, and the employees
“didn't realize what had taken place.”The child was found in a different trash receptacle at the prison at 4:29 p.m., police said.After
unsuccessful efforts at resuscitation, the baby was pronounced dead by
Oldham County Coroner Brett Donner at 4:42 p.m., police said.Police have not identified the baby's father.Webb
said he's not sure of Cox's relationship with Bell, who he said has
been held at the prison for 10 months on burglary and theft charges.Webb said Cox has a 2-year-old daughter and is going through a divorce.Corbin, her hometown, is 165 miles southeast of Louisville.Roederer, on Morgan Road, houses 982 inmates and serves as a state assessment center for male inmates.

Disturbing new
details about what led police to charge a mother with murder, after she
gave birth to her baby in a prison restroom.
State
police say 20-year-old Ashley Cox, of Corbin, murdered the newborn
Sunday, after giving birth at a prison in Oldham County, where she was
visiting an inmate.Police now say Cox stuffed toilet paper in her newborn daughter's mouth until the baby stopped breathing.
Police charged Cox with first degree murder Monday afternoon, a day after the baby's body was found.
Police
say after giving birth, Cox told prison officials she had a
miscarriage. She was taken to a Louisville hospital for treatment.
Once there, doctors quickly determined she had actually given birth to a full term baby.
Soon
after, blood was discovered on the floor of the prison restroom. Police
say the baby's body was then found in a trash can in the restroom.
An
autopsy determined the baby was killed, and Tuesday, police released
the new details on how they say Cox suffocated the infant.
Police
say Cox was at the prison visiting a man from Whitley County. They have
not said how Cox knew the man, but they do say he is not believed to be
the newborn's father.
Cox is
now being held at the Oldham County Jail. In addition to the murder
charge, she's also charged with concealing the birth of an infant.
Cox will be arraigned Wednesday morning.

A woman accused of murder after a newborn was found dead at the
LaGrange Correctional Facility in Oldham County Monday has been put on
unpaid administrative leave at the daycare at which she worked.

Ashley
Cox, 20, was visiting the prison and claimed she had a miscarriage.
After she was taken to the hospital, it was determined she had actually
given birth to the baby, which was found in the trash at the prison.
The police citation of the incident states that Cox "intentionally
forced toilet paper into the infant's mouth until the infant was not
able to breathe and suffocated."

Based on autopsy results, the baby girl was alive at birth, and there's evidence the newborn was breathing before she died.

The
owner at the daycare center where Cox worked, Beautiful Beginnings
Child Care & Pre-School in Corbin, said the news of the charges
against her came as a complete shock. He said Cox was subjected to a
background check before becoming employed there as a teacher's aide.

"It's
an extremely tragic situation," said KSP Trooper Mike Webb. "That a
woman who would resort to those means to take the life of a newborn
baby, that she would not contact someone."

Cox is being held in the Oldham County jail on a $3 million bond.

An Oldham County grand jury has indicted a southeastern Kentucky woman on murder
and concealing the birth of an infant.
Police say 20-year-old Ashley Cox gave birth at the Roederer Correctional
Complex in LaGrange on March 7 while visiting her boyfriend.
Investigators say the baby girl was healthy at birth, but accuse Cox of
suffocating the baby by stuffing toilet paper in her mouth then hiding her in a
trash can.

COMMONWEALTH VS. COX, ASHLEY N
Scheduled Events
PRETRIAL CONFERENCE 5/5/2011 09:00 AM Unassigned
JURY TRIAL 2/20/2012 09:00 AM Unassigned
http://apps.courts.ky.gov/CourtRecords/Results.aspx

Ashley Cox, Kentucky woman, pleads guilty in newborn's death at prison

ByCrimesider StaffCBS News
August 8, 2012, 2:36 PM

(CBS) OLDHAM COUNTY, Ky. - Ashley Cox entered a guilty plea to reduced charges Tuesday in the death of her newborn daughter who authorities said was hidden in a prison trash can, CBS affiliate WLKY-TV reports.

Cox, 22, pleaded guilty to first-degree manslaughter, tampering with evidence and concealing the birth of an infant at Oldham County Circuit Court. She was originally charged with murder.

Police said Cox admitted to killing her newborn baby two years ago while visiting a friend at Roederer Correctional Complex. She gave birth to a healthy baby girl in the bathroom and then suffocated infant before disposing the body in the trash.

Under the plea agreement, Cox will be sentenced to 20 years.

http://www.cbsnews.com/news/ashley-cox-kentucky-woman-pleads-guilty-in-newborns-death-at-prison/