DNA Samples Requested After Comatose Woman Gives Birth
Investigators plan to ask for DNA samples from all male employees of a nursing home where a comatose woman gave birth to a baby.
The 24-year-old woman gave birth to a premature baby girl Friday, four days after doctors at the Town Manor Nursing Home in Lawrence discovered she was five months pregnant.
The baby, who has not been named, remained in critical condition Sunday at a Boston hospital.
State Trooper Joseph R. Galante told the Lawrence Eagle-Tribune that DNA samples will be requested from male employees at the nursing home, where the woman has lived in a coma since a drug overdose five years ago.
Her identity is being withheld by police because she is the apparent victim of a rape.
It’s unclear who will have custody of the baby, but nursing home officials reported that the woman’s parents visited her every week.
Massachusetts has had several cases of sexual assault in nursing homes, but this is the first known attack that resulted in a pregnancy.
Start your day right
Sign up for Essential California for news, features and recommendations from the L.A. Times and beyond in your inbox six days a week.
You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Los Angeles Times.
