Court Gives Mother Body of Slain Child

The natural mother of a little girl allegedly beaten to death by her adoptive father said she gave him $500 to find a Roman Catholic home for the baby, but when a family refused to pay him $50,000, he kept the child, the woman’s lawyer said.

Michelle Launders, 26, said she only saw the baby for “20 seconds” before the baby apparently was handed over to Joel Steinberg. She identified Steinberg, a criminal defense lawyer, from a newspaper photograph at a marathon hearing at which she was granted the right to bury 6-year-old Elizabeth Steinberg.

Launders said she gave birth May 14, 1981, after meeting with Steinberg, who told her “I didn’t have to worry about anything.”

She was referred to Steinberg by her obstetrician, her lawyer, Anthony Cornachio, said, adding that “a number of families were in the same predicament.” He said the district attorney’s office is investigating whether Steinberg conducted shady adoptions for other families.

Launders revealed that she paid Steinberg $500 to find a rich Catholic home for the baby to “give her the opportunity (I) never had and could never possibly give her.”

Steinberg delivered the child to a family, but when they refused to pay the $50,000 fee he demanded, he took the baby back, Cornachio said.

Steinberg and his common-law wife, Hedda Nussbaum, are charged with murder in the death of Elizabeth, who was beaten to death in their Greenwich Village apartment.

Steinberg, who is under suicide watch at a hospital at Rikers Island jail, wanted the girl known as Lisa to be buried in his family’s plot in a Jewish cemetery.

But the judge in the hearing, Surrogate Marie Lambert, ruled just before 1 a.m. today that Launders “has the right to the body” and directed the city medical examiner to turn over the body to Launders and her family.

The judge said there was no evidence that Steinberg or Nussbaum had adopted the girl as they had claimed.

“There was no adoption,” Lambert said flatly. “The natural mother is definitely a victim.”

Launders sought the right to bury the girl, because, as a Catholic, she feels “it is a sacred duty for the child to be buried in consecrated ground,” Cornachio said.

“I don’t feel it’s right to have my child buried near, close to, or by the people that did kill her,” the tearful Launders said.

“If I wanted my child to be murdered, I would have had an abortion.”

Launders will have the child buried in a Catholic ceremony, probably Thursday, but also wants a rabbi to speak at the funeral, he said. Steinberg and Nussbaum are Jewish.

Cornachio said Launders was unaware her adoption plan had failed until she saw a picture of Lisa in the newspaper last week.