DATE: Thursday, October 9, 1997             TAG: 9710090516

SECTION: LOCAL                   PAGE: B6   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY KAREN JOLLY DAVIS, STAFF WRITER 

DATELINE: PARKSLEY                          LENGTH:   36 lines

TEEN FATHERED NEWBORN FOUND IN BRUSH PATCH, SHERIFF REPORTS

The apparent father of a newborn discovered abandoned in a brush patch Tuesday has been identified by Accomack County police as a 17-year-old Parksley resident, Sheriff Robert Crockett said Wednesday.

Charges against the juvenile are pending, Crockett said.

The baby girl and her 12-year-old mother were listed in good condition at Shore Memorial Hospital Wednesday.

Police say the girl gave birth in her bedroom minutes after her mother had left for work, while her father was still sleeping. Then she dumped the baby in a waist-high honeysuckle thicket, naked but unharmed.

A neighbor found the infant and called 911. Police located the mother by checking nearby schools to see who was absent.

``We pretty well assumed that we were looking for a young person,'' Crockett said. The mother is a seventh-grader at Parksley Middle School.

Apparently, nobody knew the 12-year-old was expecting - not even her parents.

``They tell us that they had no idea that their daughter was pregnant,'' said Crockett. He said the girl was nervous, scared, weak and alone when his officers found her.

No charges have been filed against the girl.

How could she have been pregnant without anyone noticing?

``Everybody's asking that question,'' said Dave Ellerbash, the middle school principal. He declined, for the sake of confidentiality, to give any insight into his student.

Ed Darby, who owns Parksley Drug Co., said people around town are upset, and concerned for the young mother and child.

``It's good that they found the baby alive,'' Darby said. KEYWORDS: ABANDONED BABY

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