A baby girl who was cut from her mother’s womb in the US three days ago has been found alive, police said today.
The girl, whose mother’s body was found on Monday in a cupboard at her apartment in Worcester, Massachusetts, appeared to be in “fairly good health” at a New Hampshire hospital, a Worcester police spokesman said.
Two people have been arrested over the mother’s death.
A 35-year-old woman and a man were detained in Plymouth, New Hampshire, where police found them with the child. Friends had told police they were suspicious of the woman's claims she had given birth.
The body of the baby’s mother, Darlene Haynes, who was eight months pregnant, was found by her landlord, William Thompson, who said a “horrifying smell” led him to her apartment, where he found her body wrapped in bedding in a cupboard.
Her death was ruled a homicide. A postmortem on Tuesday found she had suffered head injuries.
Police said the 23-year-old had apparently been dead for several days, and that she hadn’t contacted family or friends since last week. It was not until the postmortem that authorities discovered the foetus was missing.
The arrested woman, who police said had reportedly gone to New Hampshire to relocate, arrived at a Plymouth homeless shelter on Tuesday night. She told workers there that the girl was six days old and identified herself as the mother, but had no information on the child, according to the Union Leadernewspaper in New Hampshire.
She was arrested last night as she tried to leave the shelter with the baby after workers alerted police and a nurse began photographing the baby with her mobile phone.