Mother of Untended Baby Arrested : Rescue: Police find newborn alive under bloody sheets after housemate reports crying from room of woman who had left for work.
FULLERTON — A newborn girl was discovered Monday in the sheets of a bed, left behind by her mother who went to work less than a day and a half after delivering the child, police said.
The mother’s roommate heard crying about 9:30 a.m., found a tangle of bloody sheets in a bedroom and called police to the rented house in the 600 block of West Houston Avenue.
An officer drew back the bedclothes and found the baby lying silently on the bed.
“The mother had gotten dressed and gone to work and left the child in the bed,†said Sylvia Palmer, a city spokeswoman.
The mother, Jackie Lynn Anderson, 34, had given birth just after midnight Saturday and the infant had not been cleaned up, Palmer said. The officer who found the baby washed dried blood from her face while paramedics were en route, Palmer said.
Paramedics cleared her airways and gave the child oxygen to ease her shallow breathing. She was taken to Martin Luther Hospital in Anaheim, where she was in stable condition in intensive care.
Police located Anderson at work at a nearby factory, interviewed her and booked her on one count of felony child endangerment, Sgt. Steve Johnson said. She was later released from Fullerton city jail on her own recognizance. Her 11-year-old son was placed with relatives, Johnson said.
Anderson told police she was upset after giving birth and had not yet decided what to do about the baby, Johnson said.
The women moved into the tan and brown stucco house about nine months ago with several children. Their landlord, Jim Kelley, said they have been good tenants and have caused no problems.
Neighbors said the two women were quiet and kept to themselves, spending a good deal of time at home with their children. Three neighbors said they did not know Anderson was pregnant.
The birth came as a shock to Anderson’s roommate as well.
Shaken and tearful, she said she was aware that Anderson had gained weight but did not know she was pregnant.
Johnson said that once the infant is released from the hospital she will be placed in protective custody with the county, probably in Orangewood Children’s Home or in a foster home, pending the outcome of court hearings.
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