Woman Accused of Killing Her Newborn

A Shasta County woman was arrested Tuesday and jailed on suspicion of murdering her newborn child and hiding the remains.

Vivian Louise Olsen, 38, was being held pending arraignment today or Thursday, said Det. Janet Breshears.

Olsen had been living in various homes until about three weeks ago, when no one else would take her in, Breshears said. She then moved to a tent in a Redding recreational vehicle park, where she apparently gave birth alone last Wednesday.

She went to St. Elizabeth’s Hospital in Red Bluff on Saturday with complications from the delivery, but told health care workers she had miscarried a five-month pregnancy, Breshears said. When that didn’t match her condition, hospital employees called police.

The baby’s body was recovered and an autopsy indicated it was born alive, Breshears said.