The mother of a newborn reportedly killed on the University of Illinois campus has been charged with first degree murder.
From WICS: The Champaign County State’s Attorney’s Office has filed criminal charges against Lindsay L. Johnson of Monee, Illinois, following an investigation by the University of Illinois Police Department into the death of Johnson’s newborn son.
Lindsey Johnson, a University of Illinois student, gave birth to the baby on March 13, 2016, in the bathroom of her dorm suite on campus. A witness reported hearing crying and groaning sounds coming from the bathroom, but when police initially responded Johnson said she was ill but did not need assistance.
Police were called out to the dorm again after a witness reported hearing what sounded like a baby crying. Johnson left the building prior to the police arriving, and police observed blood in the bathroom. Officers were able to locate Johnson on campus later that afternoon. They brought her to the University of Illinois Police Department, at which time she advised them that she had given birth to a baby and provided them with the location of the infant’s body.
Johnson initially reported that she did not know she was pregnant until she was in the course of childbirth that day and that the child was not breathing when he was born. When confronted by the fact that the witness had heard the child crying Johnson admitted that he was alive when he was born and that he was crying. Johnson made statements suggesting that she may have been trying to quiet the child by putting a towel or her hand over his mouth. Johnson admitted that she had hidden the child’s body under her bed when the police initially came to her room to check on her welfare.
A preliminary determination by Forensic Pathologist Dr. Shiping Bao indicates that the child was born alive. There was nothing in the physical autopsy to explain the child’s death. Forensic analysis of Johnson’s phone shows a history going back to September, 2015, of searches made for information on pregnancy, pregnancy symptoms, miscarriage, home abortions, and how to manage physical signs of pregnancy after the loss of a baby.
The investigation is ongoing.
