A 17-year-old Mesa County girl was arrested today on suspicion of first-degree murder in connection with the death of her newborn baby.
Today the Mesa County Sheriff’s Office provided the following account of the incident:
At about 11:15 a.m. Saturday, Grand Junction police were called to St. Mary’s Hospital on a report of a missing child. Officers learned that the 17-year-old had been admitted after giving birth, but the baby could not be located.
Police and sheriff’s investigators said the girl was initially uncooperative, and that they later determined she gave birth alone in her home sometime between 2 and 5 a.m. that day. Family members were unaware she was pregnant.
Deputies found the baby dead in the girl’s Fruitvale home. An autopsy concluded that the baby had been strangled and ruled the manner of death to be homicide.
The girl was arrested today after turning herself in to the Mesa County Sheriff’s Office.
She will be charged as an adult with 1st Degree Murder, a Class 1 Felony, and Child Abuse Resulting in Death, a Class 2 Felony, according to a press release.
