Prosecutors won’t charge woman who says she abandoned newborn in Ballard

Prosecutors have declined to file charges against a woman who admitted abandoning the body of her newborn along a Seattle roadway. They said they lack independent evidence to prove that a crime was committed and that the baby, who had a gestational age of just 32-36 weeks, was in fact born alive.

On July 23, 2024, Seattle police arrested the woman, who told them she gave birth outdoors in February 2023 and abandoned the body of her newborn in the bushes. Her arrest represented months of work by investigators to figure out how the infant’s remains came to be along Shilshole Avenue in the Ballard neighborhood.

That's where the remains were ultimately discovered and reported to police via Seattle's Find It Fix It App. (Police told the man he should have instead made an emergency call because the discovery involved a human being.)

According to court documents, DNA analysis led them first to the biological father, who “appeared genuinely surprised” when police informed him about the baby. The man identified a woman as potentially the baby’s mother and said he had intermittent contact with her but did not know she was ever pregnant.

Police eventually arrested the woman when she visited the man’s apartment.

The woman told police she didn’t even know she was pregnant when she began experiencing labor pains. She said she went into the bushes by the railroad tracks in Ballard and gave birth. She said the baby “made little noises that I had never heard before” for 2 to 4 minutes. She said she stayed with the baby for 4-5 hours before leaving the scene. She did not seek any medical attention.

During her interview police observed that the woman “was having separate conversations with herself.” Prosecutors said the 41-year-old woman faced possible charges of manslaughter, reckless endangerment, and unlawful disposal of human remains. But they said ultimately they lacked independent evidence that a homicide was committed.

Casey McNerthney, spokesperson for the King County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office, said in a statement that “the only evidence that the baby was born alive comes from the woman’s statements that the baby made noise for a couple of minutes after he was born. Due to her mental state at the time her statement was made — including hearing voices, according to police investigators — it is difficult to determine how reliable her statements are.” The autopsy by the King County Medical Examiner was unable to determine whether the infant was in fact born alive.

“A defendant’s statement is only admissible if there is some independent evidence that a crime occurred,” McNerthney said and for that reason prosecutors have declined to file charges.

Records indicate the woman was released from King County Jail on July 26.