"Newborn John Doe" - (2010) Houston TX

Using an Internet video to guide them, three children helped a 14-year-old deliver a baby
in a southwest Houston apartment, then, thinking the boy was dead,
disposed of the newborn, officials said.

And now the mother is in juvenile custody, charged with felony injury to a child.

The junior high school student gave birth on April 16 at her friend's apartment at
Greyfield Apartments, 10111 Bissonnet, according to Houston Police
Department Detective C.P. "Abbey" Abbondandolo.

Another 14-year-old and two 11-year-olds, including the mother's sister, were with her, the
detective said, but no adults were present.

The children told police the baby stopped breathing and they put him in a plastic bag and
called a friends' father. The man took the baby and "improperly
disposed" of the boy in a trash bin in another southwest Houston
apartment complex, Abbondandolo said. Bed linens, clothes and a mattress
were also thrown away.

Police said they have not decided whether to charge the man with obstruction or aiding
and abetting the child. The other children have not been charged.

Nearly a week after the girl gave birth, her
11-year-old sister told a school counselor what happened. By
April 22, the trash bin had been taken to an area landfill. Police were
unable to find the body.

Parents didn't know

Abbondandolo said the infant's amniotic sac covering may have prevented the baby from
breathing, but "how the children made the determination that this child
was dead is rudimentary at best."

The mother's parents were unaware of her pregnancy, the detective said.

Texas Child Protective Services in Houston became aware of the baby's death about a
week after it occurred, after the sister told the school counselor, said
CPS spokeswoman Estella Olguin. Until then, the teen and her family had
never been investigated by CPS, she said. The family was notified of
family planning information and given names of counseling services in the area.

"There's no need for further CPS involvement," said the agency's spokeswoman.

Olguin said any girl or woman who is pregnant and does not know what to do, can call the
toll-free Baby Hotline at 877-904-SAVE (7283). The hotline gives out
information about the state's Baby Moses law and adoption procedures.

"We're not telling them what they should do," Olguin said. "We'll give them options. One of
things available is the Baby Moses law."

In Texas, mothers can leave unharmed newborns 60 days old or younger with fire
departments, and will not be prosecuted for doing so.

"No questions will be asked," Olguin said.

The 14-year-old mother, whose name could not be released because she is a juvenile, was
arrested Monday. She is in custody of the Harris County Juvenile Probation Department.

Problematic case

Adam Gershowitz, professor at the University of Houston Law Center, said a prosecuting
attorney could solely use statements from the children as a basis for conviction.

"It's entirely possible just to convict someone on testimony," Gershowitz said. "You
don't have to have a body, so if she confessed or the others implicated
her, that's all you need."

However, JoAnne Musick, immediate past president of Harris County Criminal Lawyers
Association, said the state's case could be crippled by the lack of a body.

"You can have a confession all day long, but it's not good enough until you can prove
that the baby died," Musick said.

"Traditionally, the body of the child is that evidence," she said, "and there the state's
missing one giant leg in their prosecution."

No update found.

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