Dead Newborn Found Outside Sorority: Plastic Bag Containing Lifeless Infant Discovered In Front Of Ohio Sorority House

A dead newborn was found outside a sorority house in New Concord, Ohio, last Wednesday night. The lifeless infant was placed inside a plastic bag and placed in front of Delta Gamma Theta at Muskingum University, reports KFOR Channel 4. Authorities say the newborn was several hours old, and the mother has confirmed that she’s a student of the school.

NBC 4 News reveals that the Muskingum County Coroner’s Office believes that the baby died of suffocation the morning she was found. The newborn girl was full-term and alive at birth. No other signs of trauma were evident.

According to the Columbus Dispatch, Muskingum County sheriff’s say university police received a call at 9:06 p.m. The dead newborn was found at the sorority house on 125 Lakeside Drive. Delta Gamma Theta is a six-bedroom house located east of the football stadium.

Once authorities completed their task at the scene, the infant’s body was sent to the Licking County Coroner’s Office for an autopsy.

The death is being investigated by university police and the sheriff’s office.

The Dispatch writes that a similar incident at the university occurred in 2002 when a Muskingum student, Jennifer Bryant, pleaded guilty to involuntary manslaughter, child endangerment, and abuse of a corpse after she wrapped her newborn boy in a blanket and put him in a garbage bin near the off-campus home she shared with five other women.

Bryant was given an early release after six months of a three-year prison sentence. She reportedly told investigators that she believed the child was stillborn.

Ohio’s Safe Haven law was implemented in 2001 and gives mothers a 30-day period to turn their newborns over to a hospital, police, or fire department. Newborns handed over are then taken care of by a local children services agency. Mothers are immune from prosecution as long as the newborn doesn’t show signs of abuse, neglect, or other serious injuries.

Authorities haven’t identified the mother who placed her dead newborn outside the sorority house last week. No other details at this point have been provided in the case.

The Inquisitr has reported on its fair share of abandoned and dead newborns. It was just recently that a 9-year-old girl found the remains of a baby in the backyard of her home while she was playing with her dog.

Many newborns are found in trash bins or behind buildings. Some are found alive and taken in by Good Samaritans who saved them.

The dead newborn found outside of the sorority house could have been saved had the mother taken advantage of the state’s Safe Haven law, which is meant to prevent this type of tragedy from happening in the first place.

[Photo Credit: Wikimedia Commons]