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Utah police responded to a tip that led to a grim discovery over the weekend, with seven dead infants found at their mother's home.
A woman identified by local media as Megan Huntsman, 39, was arrested early Sunday and booked into the Utah County Jail on murder charges.
Pleasant Grove Police officers on Saturday had "responded to the residence and observed the body of a newborn infant that appeared to be full term," a statement said.
"A search warrant was obtained for the residence and during the execution of the warrant, officers discovered six additional infant bodies. Each infant was found packaged in separate containers."
Police said the investigation revealed that Huntsman had given birth to the infants during, and then killed them during, a 10-year period.
The Salt Lake Tribune said the six packaged infant bodies had been placed in cardboard boxes.
Huntsman's ex-husband tipped off police and is believed to be the father of the infants, according to the newspaper.
Huntsman's three daughters still live in the home, owned by the ex-husband's parents, longtime neighbor Sharon Chipman told the Tribune.
Two older girls are aged 18 to 20, while the youngest is about 13.
Chipman said the ex-husband had been cleaning out the garage on Saturday to prepare to move back into the house.
© (c) 2014 AFP
4 Comments
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Novenachama
This is very unfortunate and a case of neonaticide and infant homicide where in many cases it is never discovered since those that commit neonaticide tend to evade the healthcare system. The major risk factor picked up in antenatal history appears to be substance abuse and mental illness. With infant homicide, women at risk can be more amenable to detection, but the perpetrator is equally likely to be the father. It's very sad, really but this would represent the extreme case of the abuse spectrum. In the end the mother may never know why she killed seven of her own children.
MarkG
Sad to read this. Children have a right to live and prosper. Why couldn't she drop them off at an accepting hospital anonymously? She seemed not to practice safe sex and had her own late term abortion method I hope will never be accepted.
JoiceRojo
I'm speculating here, but something tells me that maybe some of the babies are from the daughters, maybe they got caught in teen pregnancy and instead of doing abortion they waited until they were born. Anyway this is horrible, 7 is too great a number
nath
This is like an episode of CSI.