Update: Autopsies Completed On Seven Babies Found In Utah Garage
The Utah State Medical Examiner’s Office has officially completed autopsies of the seven babies found in cardboard boxes in a woman’s garage last week. The results of the autopsies, including cause of death, have yet to be released.
On Friday, Pleasant Grove Police Capt. Mike Roberts stated that the medical examiner will first need to review the autopsy reports with police and prosecutors. At the time, Roberts did not have any of the results. Additionally, he did not know whether his agency would get them before prosecutors file criminal charges against Megan Huntsman; the woman accused of killing six of the seven babies.
According to Chief Medical Examiner Todd Grey, his office never discusses cases or releases autopsy results publicly. However, Grey posited that at some point, other investigators might release some or all of the autopsy details.
Megan Huntsman, 39, is still being held on $6 million bail in the Utah County Jail in Provo. She is scheduled to make her initial court appearance on Monday. Huntsman had been placed on suicide watch at the jail, according to Capt Roberts. As of late Thursday night, she still did not have an attorney.
Utah State investigators have brought in the FBI to help officials analyze DNA taken from the seven babies. Currently, there isn’t a lab in Utah capable of analyizing the type of DNA that has been taken from the infant corpses, Roberts stated. Proper analysis of the babies’ DNA should reveal the sex of the babies, as well as officially confirming the identity of the parents.
The first of the seven babies’ bodies was discovered by Darren West, Megan’s estranged husband, in the garage of their Pleasant Grove home last weekend. Huntsman allegedly confessed to killing 6 of the babies after giving birth to them from 1996 to 2006. She put their bodies in plastic bags and packed them away in boxes, according to investigators.
Huntsman stated to police that a seventh baby was stillborn. At this point in the investigation, officials believe Huntsman’s timeline of events is accurate.
Darren West, Huntsman’s estranged husband, lived with her during the decade the births and deaths of the seven babies allegedly occurred, but was in federal prison on drug charges from 2006 until January of this year. West told police in his initial interview that he knew nothing about the babies, but has since obtained an attorney.
Investigators haven’t spoken with West since the initial arrest. He has declined to comment publicly on the case.
According to Roberts, investigators have developed an initial theory on Huntsman’s motives for disposing the seven babies, but aren’t discussing it publicly.
