"Newborn Boy" HUDSON (2009) - Westminster (NW of Denver) CO

Westminster CO ---- A mother faces charges of child abuse resulting in death
after the body of her baby was found in a suitcase in a home in
Westminster.
The Adams County District Attorney's office says a grand jury has
indicted 25-year-old Melinda Hudson in connection with the death and for
allegedly concealing the body.
The Adams County Coroner says the body was found in a suitcase with clothing, paper towels and trash.
The umbilical cord was still attached.
The body was decomposed and mummified, and determined to be a near-term male.
Hudson is scheduled to be in court Tuesday morning.

A 25-year-old mom has been charged in the death of her newborn infant
whose body was found in a tote bag in the basement of her Westminster
home in March.An Adams County grand jury indicted Melinda Hudson
last week for child abuse knowingly or recklessly causing death and
child abuse negligently causing death, both felonies, according to court
records.She was also charged with concealing a body and abuse of a corpse, both misdemeanors.
Hudson was arrested July 21 by the Westminster police.
She remains in Adams County jail on $100,000 bond, authorities said.Adams
County Coroner Jim Hibbard said an autopsy could not determine the
cause and manner of death. But those rulings could change if
investigators unearth new evidence and witness testimony, he added.A
coroner pathologist, Dr. Patrick Allen, told police he was unable to
determine if the infant survived birth and somehow died later or was
stillborn, according to a search warrant.The male infant's body was
decomposed and mummified, but still had part of the umbilical cord attached, the affidavit said.
Allen said his opinion was "the infant had died within a couple days of his
birth," the affidavit said. He said the baby appeared to be either
full-term or very close to full-term at the time of death."The
only person who could tell us whether or not the child was alive would
be mom," Hibbard said. "And I don't know that mom is doing any talking
to anybody."Hudson early on declined to give police a statement,
invoking her constitutional right to an attorney, according to the May
12 search warrant affidavit.Hudson, who lived with her parents,
concealed her pregnancy and adamantly denied it when a stranger
suggested she was pregnant, the affidavit said.Then her father,
Bernard Hudson, found the body wrapped in towels in a light blue zipper
tot bag decorated with white hearts in the basement furnace room on
March 10, according to the affidavit.The father said when he
confronted the daughter, she admitted the baby was hers and began to
cry, the affidavit said. She told her father she had given birth a
couple months earlier.The morning the father made the discovery
in the West 111th Circle home, he soon took his wife, daughter and son
to the Westminster Police Department to report the death, the affidavit
said.As the distraught father spoke privately with a detective,
he twice broken down in tears, the affidavit said.The
father said "one of two things" had happened to the infant, either it
was "stillborn or died during childbirth" or "she had done something to
it," the affidavit said. The father paused and then said "it was
intentional."But when the detective later questioned Bernard
Hudson about his statement, the father said he didn't remember making
the comment and "did not mean his daughter had done anything to the
infant," the affidavit said.Family members and the woman's boyfriend told detectives
they did not know she was pregnant, the affidavit said."Bernard
(Hudson) said Melinda had been gaining weight last year," the affidavit
said. "He had asked her if she was pregnant, but she denied being
pregnant."The father recounted a 2009 incident where the family
had seen the war drama, "The Hurt Locker," about male soldiers in an
Army bomb squad unit.As they family left the theater, another
woman who presumed Hudson was pregnant said she "hoped it wasn't a boy,"
the affidavit said. Her father said "Melinda was offended and, again,
denied being pregnant.""Members of the Hudson family and (her
boyfriend) told detectives Melinda had a history of concealing things
from them," the affidavit said.Her parents told police Melinda
had been working at a local restaurant called Happy Sumo until she
started a new job, the affidavit said.But the woman's boyfriend
told police Melinda had quit her job several months earlier, but
continued to dress in her restaurant uniform when she left her parents'
home, the affidavit said. The boyfriend said Melinda would call her
parents when she was with him and tell them she was at work.The
boyfriend recalled that he and Melinda had gone a trip to New Jersey
against her father's wishes, the affidavit said. The boyfriend said
Melinda told him not to mention the trip to her parents.The
father said his wife and Melinda had not told him about incidents when
her boyfriend was arrested for domestic violence last fall until long
after they occurred, the affidavit said.Her brother, Bernie
Hudson, told police that Melinda had failed or done poorly in several
college classes, but had altered her report card before showing it to
her parents, the affidavit said."Bernie (Hudson) said Melinda did
not want to disappoint her parents, and would either conceal or lie
about specific incidents in order to prevent their discovery, many times
knowing she was going to be caught," the affidavit said.The
boyfriend's family members also said Melinda had gained weight and was
"heavy" in September 2009, the affidavit said. But when they saw
Facebook photos of Melinda in a "skimpy costume" with her boyfriend at
an Oct. 30, 2009, Halloween party, family members "saw Melinda had lost a
lot of weight," the affidavit said.Police obtained the warrant
to search the woman's Facebook account for photos, videos, text postings
and other information, the affidavit said.

A woman from Westminster pleaded guilty today in the death of her baby, whose mummified remains were found in a suitcase.
Melinda Hudson pleaded guilty to criminally negligent child abuse causing in death.
Hudson, 25, was indicted by the Adams County grand jury July 20,
according to Krista Flannigan, spokeswoman for Adams County District
Attorney.
The indictment, the warrant, and all related documents have been sealed.
The mummified remains of the baby were in a soft-sided suitcase containing various items of clothing, towels and paper towels.
Hudson will be sentenced in October. She faces a sentence of four years to 32 years.

A woman who pleaded guilty to charges of child abuse resulting in death after the body of a baby was found in her basement was sentenced to eight years in a community corrections facility on Monday.
The Adams County District Attorney's office says 25-year-old Melinda Hudson pleaded guilty to criminally negligent child abuse causing death in August. She was charged on Monday in Adams County District Court. The district attorney says a baby was found by Hudson's father in March. He told investigators he smelled a foul odor coming from the basement and located the body of the baby in a bag in the corner. According to the Adams County Coroners Office, the body was decomposed and mummified, and determined to be a near-term male. Officials believe the baby was near full term around October 2009. Officials say Hudson turned herself into Westminster Police shortly after the body was found. Her eight year sentence will include therapy and substance abuse treatment, according to the district attorney.