Ocean City, Md. – Investigators were trying to determine Tuesday why a woman accused of causing her baby to be stillborn had bruises on her body when she was found bleeding last week.
Police say Christy Freeman, 37, had bruises on her legs, stomach and forearm. She told police she was not pregnant, but she changed her story to say she had given birth to a deformed baby, calling it “gloopity glop.” A male fetus, of 26 weeks’ gestation, was found wrapped in a bloody towel under her bathroom sink. According to charging documents, the fetus was not deformed.
Freeman was being held without bail Tuesday as investigators continued to excavate the grounds at her home in a search that has turned up four tiny sets of remains.
Ocean City Police Chief Bernadette DiPino said investigators want to know what caused Freeman’s bruises.
“We’re going to bring in a domestic-violence expert to determine. Could it be self-inflicted? Could it be from someone else? Could it have been an accident?” DiPino said.
Police spokesman Barry Neeb said interviews with Freeman led police to believe she caused the stillbirth. They also have not said whether they believe she was responsible for the three other sets of remains.
Freeman was charged with murder under a state law that allows murder prosecutions of those who cause the death of a fetus that may have been able to survive outside the womb.
Her boyfriend, Raymond W. Godman Jr., was not a suspect Tuesday.
Police said he and the couple’s four children were staying with a friend. Freeman awaits an Aug. 27 preliminary hearing. A lawyer who represented Freeman at her bail hearing has stopped representing her, and the court clerk’s office said Freeman has not obtained a new attorney.
