A 17-year-old 'straight A-student' has been charged with murder after she allegedly smothered her newborn baby girl with a towel in her home bathroom because she didn't want her mother to find out.
Jessica Lynn Brewster, of Muskegon, was arraigned on Wednesday morning
and charged with open murder - a combination of first and second-degree
murder under Michigan law.
A detective told the court on Wednesday that Brewster admitted she held a
towel over the baby's face after giving birth around 4am on October 15
so that her mother wouldn't hear the cries.
Detective Kory Luker said in a sworn statement that the teen said she
was fearful of her mother finding out she was pregnant,MLive reported.
The teen then put the baby in the plastic bag and carried it to her
grandmother's senior living complex where she allegedly buried the
baby behind the building in a shallow grave.
The district judge denied bond.
The baby's body was found on Monday afternoon by a janitor at
the apartment block, who at first thought the child was a doll.
Brewster, who attends Muskegon High School was arrested on Monday
night and 'admitted' her connection to the child's death.
It is believed she acted alone, police said. The teen has no criminal history.
The high school senior was being held at the Muskegon County Jail.
Detectives told WZZM that the baby was likely born in October and
soon afterwards left behind the senior living complex where Brewster's
grandmother has a home.
The child's cause of death has not been revealed.
After the baby's body was discovered, detectives canvassed the
neighborhood to ask if any pregnant relatives had visited recently.
One resident, reportedly Brewster's grandmother, sent police to talk to the teenager.
Arleen Clements, the janitor who found the baby's body, told MLive
that she was in a state of shock over the death.
She said: 'I just opened the door and looked down and saw it.
My mind told me it wasn't a baby. I looked down closer to it.
'I saw a little leg and little toes. I stood there thinking, ''Am I
seeing what I'm seeing? Could it be a doll baby?'"
But she said it was the little toes on the exposed legs of the
baby that filled her with dread.
'A doll doesn't have little wrinkles on its toe like that.
I just knew it was a baby then,' she said.
Jessica Lynn Brewster, of Muskegon, was arraigned on Wednesday morning
and charged with open murder - a combination of first and second-degree
murder under Michigan law.
A detective told the court on Wednesday that Brewster admitted she held a
towel over the baby's face after giving birth around 4am on October 15
so that her mother wouldn't hear the cries.
Detective Kory Luker said in a sworn statement that the teen said she
was fearful of her mother finding out she was pregnant,MLive reported.
The teen then put the baby in the plastic bag and carried it to her
grandmother's senior living complex where she allegedly buried the
baby behind the building in a shallow grave.
The district judge denied bond.
The baby's body was found on Monday afternoon by a janitor at
the apartment block, who at first thought the child was a doll.
Brewster, who attends Muskegon High School was arrested on Monday
night and 'admitted' her connection to the child's death.
It is believed she acted alone, police said. The teen has no criminal history.
The high school senior was being held at the Muskegon County Jail.
Detectives told WZZM that the baby was likely born in October and
soon afterwards left behind the senior living complex where Brewster's
grandmother has a home.
The child's cause of death has not been revealed.
After the baby's body was discovered, detectives canvassed the
neighborhood to ask if any pregnant relatives had visited recently.
One resident, reportedly Brewster's grandmother, sent police to talk to the teenager.
Arleen Clements, the janitor who found the baby's body, told MLive
that she was in a state of shock over the death.
She said: 'I just opened the door and looked down and saw it.
My mind told me it wasn't a baby. I looked down closer to it.
'I saw a little leg and little toes. I stood there thinking, ''Am I
seeing what I'm seeing? Could it be a doll baby?'"
But she said it was the little toes on the exposed legs of the
baby that filled her with dread.
'A doll doesn't have little wrinkles on its toe like that.
I just knew it was a baby then,' she said.
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