Hour-Old Infant Saved From Bushes

The investigation into the discovery of an abandoned newborn--umbilical cord still attached, tissue shoved in his mouth--took a bizarre turn Thursday when the man who found the whimpering infant learned he is the child’s grandfather.

The man, whose name was being withheld, was stunned when investigators told him his 17-year-old daughter had given birth early Thursday morning and faces attempted-murder charges for allegedly placing the child in a black garbage bag and dropping him out a bathroom window.

The infant boy was in stable condition Thursday at a local hospital, Santa Ana Police Sgt. Bob Clark said. The baby’s mother was arrested at Saddleback High School just before noon Thursday as she attended summer school, he said.

Investigators believe the young woman quietly gave birth about 3 a.m. as eight other people slept in the family’s two-bedroom apartment. After cleaning the bathroom, she apparently dropped the baby outside the first-floor window and left him lying behind some shrubbery, Clark said.

The unsuspecting grandfather told police he found the baby about 4 a.m. after he heard muffled cries from outside and saw an unusual shape when he peered through the window, police said. Outside, he found the 5-pound, 14-ounce newborn sobbing and struggling for breath. He also saw a police patrol car and ran to wave the officer down. Paramedics soon arrived to rush the newborn to Coastal Communities Hospital in Santa Ana, Clark said.

“The good part of all this is it looks like the little boy is going to make it,” Clark said. “The baby must have been found only a short time after it was dumped, we believe, and that was the difference.”

Only later, as police canvassed neighbors in the 2500 block of South Rosewood Avenue, did investigators begin to suspect that the same stucco apartment complex where the newborn was found might also be the site of the child’s birth.

“We talk to people and it leads back to the same apartment,” Clark said. “The [grandfather] seemed to be totally in the dark from beginning to end. He had no idea his daughter was pregnant. And, at this point, we have no reason to think he’s not telling the truth.”

Police also questioned the suspect’s 14-year-old sister as a potential witness, Clark said.

The young woman’s relatives could not be reached for comment Thursday.

A neighbor who knows the family said most people did not know the 17-year-old student was pregnant, and it was not obvious by looking at her.

“She didn’t show, she was very thin,” said Juan Hernandez as he watched police and media file past the yellow tape marking the spot where the child was found. “It’s very sad. I guess she just did not want her parents to know. She wanted to be seen in good eyes.”

One neighbor who would not give her name said she knew the student was pregnant but she never would have believed the young woman capable of abandoning her newborn.

“It is a terrible thing, too terrible,” the neighbor said.

The 17-year-old was being held without bail Thursday night at Orange County Juvenile Hall, Clark said. The infant will likely be turned over to Orange County social services officials until the police investigation is complete.

Clark said a medical examination and questioning of the suspect confirmed she had given birth in the night, but he would not say if she admitted to dropping the child out the window. Forensic investigators found evidence in the bathroom that suggested it was the site of the birth, he said.

“We have most of the facts at this point; the big question in our mind now is why she would do this,” Clark said.