A 22 year old Iowa woman, Ashley Hautzenrader, gave birth to a baby on
May 8, around 9:30pm at the John Colloton Pavillion at the University
of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics in Iowa City, then she proceeded to flush
her newborn baby down the toilet, after which she put the child in a
pillowcase, before leaving the baby for dead in a hospital trash can.
Hautzenrader has now been arrested and charged with
attempted murder. She is facing the new charge in addition to a previous
charge of child endangerment according to The Des Moines Register and
the University of Iowa police.
Fortunately, a hospital employee found the newborn alive a short while later, but the baby’s condition is currently unknown.
Hautzenrader, of Davenport, Iowa, admitted to police officers that she
had left the child in the trash because she thought it was dead.
She said after giving birth in the restroom and putting her child in the trash, she cleaned up and left the scene.
When police officers found her, she told them that she had believed the
baby was stillborn because the child did not cry, according to the
criminal complaint.
She also claimed to have not realized she was pregnant when she entered the restroom.
UIHC spokesman Tom Moore previously refused to tell the baby’s gender
and further details about this incident, citing federal patient privacy
laws.
Hautzenrader has a daughter she gave birth to sometime in 2014, who has
several health issues including wearing a breathing tube attached to
her nose and a tracheotomy.
Court records show an order from May 2015 after Hautzenrader petitioned
for paternity and child support for a baby girl she previously gave
birth to.
She has been charged with child endangerment in regards to her first child- and faces up to two years in prison if convicted.
Meanwhile she faces up to 25 years in jail if convicted for the attempted murder charge of her newborn baby.
Hautzenrader, who is set to appear in court on June 9, has been ordered
not to have contact with the new child she tried to kill.
Source: The Des Moines Register