"Newborn Jane" SANDERS - (2009) Traverse City MI

Traverse City MI ---- A death investigation is underway after the
body of a child was found in a home by a group of teenagers.The
Grand Traverse County Sheriff's Office is releasing very few details at
this time, but we do know teenagers arrived at the home near the
intersection of Glenwood and Crescent just East of the Traverse City
limits. Authorities say the teens found the child's dead body inside and
called 911.It's unknown how the child died or its relationship
to the house, but evidence was being collected at the scene to help
investigators get some answers.

Teens find body of newborn baby

TRAVERSE CITY -- Updated Saturday, 8:30 pm A death
investigation continues after the body of a child was found by a group
of teenagers. Now police are concerned for the health of the
birthmother.The Grand Traverse County Sheriff's Office is
releasing very few details at this time, but we do know teenagers
arrived at the home near the intersection of Gladewood and Crescent just
East of the Traverse City limits. Authorities say the teens found the
child's dead body inside and called 911. It happened about 5:20 pm on
Friday.It's unknown how the child died.http://www.upnorthlive.com/news/story.aspx?id=457415

Authorities in Grand Traverse County are investigating the death of a
newborn found in an east-side backyard, the second such incident in as
many months.
Sheriff's officials responded to a suspicious call
at 5:12 p.m. Friday at a residence on Gladewood Lane, off Barlow Street
in Garfield Township, a department call log shows.
The child was discovered in the backyard, Undersheriff Nathan Alger said, and it's
unclear if efforts were made to conceal the body.
Authorities are trying to locate the infant's mother.
"We need to know who that
is," Alger said. "There are health risks, obviously, to a mother who may
have delivered a fetus and not in a hospital setting."
He didn't know Saturday whether a woman showing signs of recent delivery had
sought treatment at a hospital.
Authorities couldn't confirm the baby's sex Saturday.
In early March, a dead baby boy was found in
the basement of a house on Griffin Street in Traverse City. The infant
was found after a 15-year-old girl who lived there went to Munson
Medical Center in Traverse City with birth-related hemorrhaging.
City police continue to investigate that incident.
Sheriff Tom Bensley said additional information about Friday's case will be released
as the investigation continues.
He asked anyone with information about the mother's identity or whereabouts to contact the Sheriff's office at 922-4550.

A newborn baby who police say was delivered within the last week turned up dead in the
backyard of a Grand Traverse County home.
A group of boys found the corpse while doing yard work at the home.
Police are still trying to track down the mother.
They're now calling this a murder investigation.
The boys found the newborn just after 5pm on
Friday at the home in Grand Traverse County.
Police say three or more kids live at the home with their grandmother, and they say several
more kids frequently come and go. That's why police are struggling to find the birth-mother.
They believe she delivered the baby at the house.
Investigators aren't saying what condition the baby was
found in, and were not able to determine the sex of the newborn.
Oneofficer described the scene as "gruesome".
"In 28 years I've been in law enforcement, I respond on a majority of serious crimes in
our county, this is the first time I've encountered something like
this," says Capt. Tom Emerson with the Grand Traverse County Sheriff's
Department. "It was pretty heart wrenching for all the officers on the scene."
An autopsy on the newborn was scheduled for Monday in Grand Rapids.
Police want to talk to the mother but they're also
concerned about her health since complications can happen during child birth.
Anyone with information is asked to call police.

A Third Dead Infant? How? Why?

The infant boy was apparently in a bag and was pulled out of the family's shed by their pit bull, then the homeowner's teen grandson found the baby in the bag, in their yard. He said the baby's skin looked burned but I don't know if that could have been from the dog or from it's birth or other.
This is tragic-heartbreaking and horrific, it's the third dead in infant in three months in rural northern Michigan. The first infant boy was reportedly born alive in the basement of a 15 year old's home but was found dead after the girl came to ER with birthing related injuries. The second infant was found in the dumpster of an oil drilling site in the woods, the 19 yr old mother later came forward. And now the third abandoned in a bag in a shed.
I can only believe that they were not alone when they died. That these little tiny babies were surround by God and their angels as they took their last breath and they were not scared.
I know just because a female can reproduce doesn't mean she is ready or able to provide for an infant but to put the baby in a bag or in a dumpster, I don't understand, what is the deficit in these young women's hearts that lead to this end? My prayers are with those girls because I can't really imagine a full recovery to their humanity.

November 17, 2010
Woman pleads guilty in newborn's death
Charges reduced; plea made to second-degree child abuse

BY BRIAN McGILLIVARY
bmcgillivary@record-eagle.com

TRAVERSE CITY — A former teacher's aide pleaded guilty to second-degree child abuse in the death of her newborn daughter, a deal that reduced an original charge of involuntary manslaughter.

Lynzee Sanders, 27, whose child was discovered May 14 amid yard debris outside a relative's Garfield Township home, also pleaded guilty Tuesday to concealing the death of an infant, a misdemeanor punishable by up to a year in jail.

The child-abuse charge carries a maximum sentence of four years in prison.

"We didn't have a lot of information to go on," Grand Traverse County Prosecutor Alan Schneider said. "We did not have a cause of death because there was no way to determine a cause of death. All we had was the statement of the defendant."

Sanders told police the child was born alive, but because of the ordeal of the birth she was not able to care for the child, Schneider said.

The child-abuse charge is based on Sanders' failure to prepare for the baby's birth, he said.

Her attorney, Michael Hall, could not be reached for comment Tuesday.

Sanders is a former preschool teaching assistant at Grand Traverse Academy, a position she resigned.

The case surfaced when teens discovered the infant's body in a backyard on Gladewood Lane. A dog apparently had pulled it from a shed in the yard.

Sanders faced charges of involuntary manslaughter and concealing the death of an infant child. DNA tests revealed she was the mother.

Grand Traverse County sheriff's deputies say Sanders admitted she delivered the newborn girl in October 2009 and wrapped her in sheets before hiding her in a bag in the shed.

Sanders will be sentenced in about 30 days. She remains free on bond.

http://record-eagle.com/local/x54290937/Woman-pleads-guilty-in-death

Prison time for mother in baby girl's death
BY ART BUKOWSKI
abukowski@record-eagle.com



TRAVERSE CITY — Lynzee Sanders refused for months to deal with her pregnancy, then apparently told no one as she went into labor and delivered the child on her own.

Her baby girl died soon after the October 2009 birth, and Sanders wrapped the infant in sheets and hid it in a shed outside her Traverse City home.

A tearful Sanders, 27, stood before 13th Circuit Court Judge Philip E. Rodgers during her Friday sentencing. Defense attorney Michael Hall called the situation a tragic case of "denial on steroids;" a series of bad decisions by a woman who was afraid to reach out for help.

But Rodgers, who calmly spoke to Sanders at length about the crime, wasn't sympathetic.

"You became pregnant and sought no prenatal care, and ultimately when the time came and you went into labor, you didn't seek any medical assistance ... there's no question from what I have read that but for the way the child was treated in the birth process, it would have lived," he said.

And what's worse, Rodgers said, Sanders didn't bury the child or leave it on the steps of a funeral home.

"The child was treated like trash," he said.

Teens discovered the infant in May after a dog dragged it from the shed. Sanders didn't know who fathered the child, Hall told Rodgers.

Rodgers sentenced Sanders to 16 to 48 months in prison on charges of second-degree child abuse and concealing the death of an infant. She originally was charged with involuntary manslaughter, but agreed to plead guilty to the lesser charges.

Sanders, a former preschool teaching assistant at Grand Traverse Academy, wept and apologized.

"I'm sorry to my family ... I'm sorry to everyone involved in the case. But most of all I'm sorry to my baby," she said. "Not a day goes by that thoughts don't agonize me ... Why didn't I ask for help? Why didn't I tell anyone? Why did I let this happen?"

In a separate case, a Traverse City teen in October was sent to a secure treatment facility in Grand Rapids after a judge placed her on probation for three years for homicidal neglect. The girl, 16, failed to seek medical help for her March newborn, an infant that was discovered dead, wrapped in towels and placed in a plastic bag.

She accepted responsibility for the crime of involuntary manslaughter and will serve part of her probation in the facility. The girl is expected to undergo psychiatric evaluations and treatment.

http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:v-e5uxt0AvMJ:record-eagle.com/local/x2007171335/Prison-time-for-mother-in-baby-girls-death+Lynzee+Sanders+Traverse+City+MI&cd=3&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us&source=www.google.com