LOUISVILLE KY Aug 12 2013 A gruesome discovery in the restroom of a Kohl’s Department Store off Preston Highway south of the Gene Snyder Freeway has police asking why and looking at criminal charges.
Store employees and security found a newborn infant dead inside the trashcan and it appeared to be full-term and healthy, according to Louisville Metro Police. It was determined that the mother gave birth to the baby while inside a restroom at the store.
LMPD homicide detectives responded to Kohl's Department Store on Standiford Plaza Drive near the Jefferson-Bullitt County line around 5:45 Thursday night and immediately closed down the store as a crime scene.
Louisville police say that they have now identified the mother of the baby and that she is cooperating with authorities.
"I don't know what she was thinking. I'm not her. I wouldn't have wanted to be her. I just think it's a terrible loss," said Erika Janes, a nurse and child advocate at Kosair Children's Hospital.
She has seen too many cases like this one.
Janes says the Safe Infants Act passed in 2007 was designed to prevent cases like this.
It gives desperate mothers the option of essentially abandoning their newborn with authorities such as police officers firefighters or hospital workers, within 72 hours of birth. As long as there are no signs of abuse, there are no questions asked.
"They can't drop the baby at the door. You have to hand it to a person, and just leave," said Janes.
Janes says the law has been used some 30 times in six years, but she suspects it could have been used a lot more, such as a 2010 case where a child was found in dumpster.
Jefferson County Deputy Coroner Larry Carroll says it's not yet known whether the baby was born dead. The cause of death hasn't been determined.
There are no charges right now because the Medical Examiner has not yet determined exactly how the child died.