An 18-year-old man from Twin Falls, Idaho, was arrested following the discovery of a deceased baby in a Safe Haven baby box at Grove Creek Medical Center in Blackfoot last month. The Blackfoot Police Department confirmed arrest on social media, identifying the teen as Angel N. Newberry, who now faces a felony charge of failing to report a death to authorities and the coroner.
The baby, wrapped in a blanket with the placenta still attached, was found on October 13. Monica Kelsey, founder of Safe Haven Baby Boxes, said hospital staff immediately responded to an alarm triggered by the box, but discovered the baby had already died. before being placed inside.
Under Idaho law, the Safe Haven Baby Box system is designed to allow custodial parents to safely and anonymously deliver unharmed newborns under 30 days old without legal repercussions. However, the law does not extend protection to cases involving injured or deceased children.
“The goal of the Safe Haven Baby Box is to safely and anonymously allow custodial parents to surrender a newborn under 30 days old without legal repercussions, as long as the child is unharmed,” Blackfoot Police stated. “Unfortunately, the placement of an injured or deceased baby is not protected by this system or Idaho law.”
This is the only Safe Haven Baby Box currently installed in Idaho, although Kelsey noted there are plans to add another next year. Police have withheld additional details as investigation continueswith the possibility of further charges being applied.
In another story, Marisa Christie, a mother of four in Texas, revealed that she temporarily forgot that she had given birth to triplets after suffering a rare and life-threatening complication moments after giving birth. Christie, 30, gave birth to three girls at Memorial Hermann The Woodlands Medical Center in Houston in August. Shortly after, she experienced an amniotic fluid embolism, a condition in which amniotic fluid or fetal material enters the mother’s bloodstream and causes serious complications.
“The doctors had taken out the three (babies). They were actually resting them on my stomach to do a delayed clamping of the umbilical cord,” Christie shared with the Today’s program. “My arms flew up and that’s when my heart stopped.”
Christie collapsed several times within 45 minutes and spent a week unconscious. When she woke up, she remembered that she had given birth to triplets. Her recovery and survival from this rare disease highlights the resilience of both her mother and the medical staff during a high-risk situation.