Newborn Found Dead Was Born Alive, Coroner Finds

An autopsy on Wednesday determined that a newborn girl found dead in a trash can behind her teen-age mother’s Glendora home had been born alive, police said.

Coroner’s officials, however, have not yet determined the cause of death for the 8 1/2-pound infant and no arrests have been made, said Sgt. Tim Pfeiffer. He said the child was born Monday to a 17-year-old Glendora High School student who hid her pregnancy from friends and family.

On Tuesday, the mother was rushed unconscious to Foothill Presbyterian Hospital, where emergency room doctors determined that she had recently given birth. She was in serious but stable condition Wednesday, police said. The baby was found wrapped in a plastic bag, its umbilical cord still attached. Pfeiffer said the mother told police she thought the infant had been born dead.