Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, April 21, 1993 TAG: 9304210090
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: A-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: By LAURENCE HAMMACK STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Roanoke County police confirmed Tuesday that the woman is a suspect, but said no charges have been brought.
According to a search warrant filed Monday in Roanoke Circuit Court, the woman confessed to having the baby in her dormitory room at Roanoke Memorial Hospital.
She then wrapped the body in a towel and drove to the McDonald's at Plantation Road and Interstate 81 near Hollins, where it was placed in a trash can in the restaurant's parking lot.
An employee emptying the trash discovered the body about 10 a.m. March 18.
Because an autopsy determined that the child was stillborn, the most serious charge the woman faces is a misdemeanor offense of improperly disposing of a body.
But before charges are filed, police will wait for results from laboratory tests comparing the suspect's blood with that of the infant.
"The results from the laboratory will probably be the determining factor in whether or not charges are filed," said Sgt. Paul McElvein of the Roanoke County Police Department. The tests may be completed by the end of the week.
Police approached the suspect last week after receiving information from several people who said she appeared to be pregnant last month, but later made no mention of having a child.
McElvein said the calls did not come from the hospital, where the woman was living in a dormitory room near the emergency room.
Sally Ramey, a spokeswoman for Roanoke Memorial, declined to comment Tuesday. "It's a police matter," she said. "It has nothing to do with the hospital per se."
According to the search warrant, Detective Paul Nielsen interviewed the woman Thursday at the hospital and noticed what appeared to be blood-stained paper towels in her dorm room.
Although the woman admitted having the child in her room and driving with the body to McDonald's, the search warrant gave no hint of what explanation - if any - she provided. Police also declined to elaborate.
The search warrant sought permission for police to search the woman's room and her car. Police said on the warrant that they were looking for blood, tissue, "or other biological matter associated with human childbirth," as well as any notes or writings that might be relevant.
A list of what was recovered during the search had not been filed Tuesday in Circuit Court.
The medical examiner's office had said earlier that the male infant died before taking a breath. The child's umbilical cord still was attached when it was found.
Authorities estimated that the child was born 24 to 48 hours before the body was discovered.
Only a year ago, no charges might have been filed in such a case. It was only after several high-profile cases in which infants' bodies were discarded in recent years that the General Assembly made it a crime.
This case touched many people in the Roanoke Valley, including Frank G. Roupas, a ballroom-dancing instructor who donated a space in his family plot in Evergreen Cemetery for the child's burial.
Roupas named the infant "R.C." for Roanoke County.
Because the body was found next to an interstate, many had speculated that the mother was long gone by the time a graveside service was held the following week.
"I never thought, ever, that someone around here would have done it, and been here the whole time," Roupas said Tuesday.
Keywords:
FATALITY
by CNB