Newborn Twins found In Trash.....by:~~Marie~~

Newborn twins found in trash

June 7, 2003

BY ABDON M. PALLASCH Staff Reporter



A garbage collector saw something terrible Friday morning as she made the rounds in west suburban Stickney: the bodies of newborn twins, both boys, spilled from a garbage container into her truck.

Police arrived and examined the bodies, which neighbors said still had umbilical cords attached. The placentas were also found amid the garbage.

Owners of the house in the 4800 block of South Latrobe said they last put garbage in the container Thursday night, so someone must have dropped the babies off after that, said Marjorie O'Dea, chief of the Cook County Sheriff's Department.

"This is a very public alley, just off the expressway. It's very possible it was not someone from the neighborhood," O'Dea said at a news conference next to a garage Friday afternoon.

Sheriff's police canvassed the neighborhood, asking people if they knew anyone who was recently pregnant. Several officers entered a house across the street after a neighbor said a pregnant woman lived there, but the woman's sister said she was not expecting twins.

"They were still very tiny, and they still had their umbilical cords," said Agnes Mierzwa, 17, who lives next to the house where the babies were found. She watched through her window as emergency personnel took the babies out of the truck.

Police did not know how long the boys had been dead and if they had been stillborn or died after birth, O'Dea said.

The Cook County medical examiner plans an autopsy this morning, O'Dea said.

Under state law, parents can drop off newborns without prosecution at hospitals and police stations. State legislators passed the "safe haven" law to prevent situations such as Friday's.

The sheriff's office asked anyone with information to call (708) 865-4896.

:( :( :( :( :( How sad.

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