Autopsy shows baby found in trash was stillborn

HAMMOND – Tangipahoa Parish Sheriff Daniel Edwards says the body of a baby found in a trashcan in Tickfaw on Wednesday was stillborn. Edwards says that the Jefferson Parish Corners Office contacted the autopsy on the baby. The body was found by workers with a trash company that was emptying trash bins in the area. The sheriff says that detectives believe the baby was left in a trash can within a few blocks of the location where he was discovered inside the bin of the garbage truck. Edwards says the babies umbilical cord was still attached. Right now, deputies are trying to find whoever the mother of the baby is. Edwards says that they want to make sure that she is safe. “Our primary concern at this time is to identify the mother and to make sure the mother physically is safe and getting any kind of medical care that she might have needs for,” Edwards told reporters Thursday afternoon. Edwards says that the fetus was a white, male baby weighing 3 lbs. 11 oz. He says the toxicology tests on the child are pending. Edwards says that charges could be brought in the case against them other depending upon the results of those toxicology tests. “If you have a mother who is giving birth, whether it’s prematurely or otherwise, and the baby died on its own, not due to the intentional act of anyone else, I don’t think you’d have any kind of crime that would rise to the level of a homicide or anything else. You may get into a situation of improperly disposing of human remains,” Edwards said. The baby was dumped into a trashcan somewhere near the corner of Whiskey Lane and Stone Lane in thee Tickfaw area. Deputies spent much of the morning on Thursday canvassing the area to speak to neighbors and hopefully find a witness who saw something. The sheriff believes there is a chance that the mother lives somewhere near the scene.