UNSOLVED KS - Wichita, fetus in box near river, Nov'19

[creepedout]

Fetus found in box along Arkansas River in south Wichita

A 57-year old woman found a box on a sandbar near the Arkansas River in south Wichita. The box contained bloody materials and a fetus that is believed to be 10 weeks or younger. The case hasn't immediately been identified as criminal.

 

[Ontario Mom]

Well, that 10 week old baby didn't put him/herself in that box and leave it on a riverbank. At the very least I'd assume there might be some kind of crime such as illegal disposal of a human body? Just guessing.

 

[TTF14]

A 10 week or younger BABY or a 10 week or younger gestational fetus? Big difference!

 

[UnlicensedPI]

This article clarifies it's 10 weeks gestation or younger. Definitely sounds like a fetus, not a baby.
Fetus found in box along Arkansas River in south Wichita

 

[TTF14]

This article clarifies it's 10 weeks gestation or younger. Definitely sounds like a fetus, not a baby.
Fetus found in box along Arkansas River in south Wichita

OK, so either someone had a miscarriage (teenager scared to know how to dispose of it, homeless person, etc.) or someone's performing illegal abortions and discarding fetuses? Is abortion legal in Wichita?

 

[Triss]

OK, so either someone had a miscarriage (teenager scared to know how to dispose of it, homeless person, etc.) or someone's performing illegal abortions and discarding fetuses? Is abortion legal in Wichita?

I'd assume that someone who performs illegal abortions on a regular basis would know better than to discard fetuses like that.

 

[MissMalowe]

Not many details given really. Bloody materials in a tiny box? That could have been the result of some poor grieving woman's miscarriage and "bloody materials" for all we know could have been a hankerchief, piece of baby blanket/cloth/fabric to wrap it with. Maybe sent it down the river or buried it too shallow and too close to the river? If it was "sent off" with good intentions I hope that mother hasn't seen the report and doesn't know her loss is now at the medical examiners office.

 

[Eloise]

A 10 week fetus is just over an inch long. Really tiny.

This isn't Kansas info, it's Australian, so might not be relevant but it's familiar to me so I'll share it here. It's fairly normal for a miscarried fetus to be put in a box. {{meta.og.title}}

If you miscarry at home
If you wish to, you may decide to collect your baby in a container to show your doctor. Depending on your circumstances, your doctor may send the baby to a laboratory for testing to try to find out why it happened.

Services offered by the hospital
The services offered for miscarriage vary between different hospitals.

Some hospitals offer services such as:

• saving the pregnancy tissue from a D&C where possible (provided you have explicitly requested this)
• arranging to have pregnancy tissue cremated at your request
• giving you back the pregnancy tissue for your own private burial or cremation

 

[cvaldez1975]

Not many details given really. Bloody materials in a tiny box? That could have been the result of some poor grieving woman's miscarriage and "bloody materials" for all we know could have been a hankerchief, piece of baby blanket/cloth/fabric to wrap it with. Maybe sent it down the river or buried it too shallow and too close to the river? If it was "sent off" with good intentions I hope that mother hasn't seen the report and doesn't know her loss is now at the medical examiners office.

i buried my 7 week miscarried fetus under my lemon tree. i would hope no one would find it and think its a fetus in a shallow grave

 

[MarziPanda]

Definitely sounds like a miscarriage to me. Putting the foetus in a box and sending it downriver sounds like a peaceful way to try to come to terms with that grief. I honestly can't imagine how this could be criminal. As Triss said, someone performing illegal abortions would know better than to dispose of evidence in this way. A foetus at 10 weeks is really tiny. If it was evidence of any sort of illegal activity it would be so easy to put it places it would never be found. I'm not sure the police should have said anything about this... the person who miscarried now has to come forward and be in the public eye over it or at least talk to the police about it. That person is going through so many hard emotions right now, they don't need to be grilled by the police too.
MOO.

 

[cvaldez1975]

Definitely sounds like a miscarriage to me. Putting the foetus in a box and sending it downriver sounds like a peaceful way to try to come to terms with that grief. I honestly can't imagine how this could be criminal. As Triss said, someone performing illegal abortions would know better than to dispose of evidence in this way. A foetus at 10 weeks is really tiny. If it was evidence of any sort of illegal activity it would be so easy to put it places it would never be found. I'm not sure the police should have said anything about this... the person who miscarried now has to come forward and be in the public eye over it or at least talk to the police about it. That person is going through so many hard emotions right now, they don't need to be grilled by the police too.
MOO.

i know i find it very sad i buried mine under the tree because a tree is a sign of life.

 

[wdmcmahan]

Surely there is some mistake in the reporting. Miscarriages at 10 weeks or before are so common.

Lots of women are just finding out about their pregnancy around 8-10 weeks. Many women don't tell anyone about the pregnancy until after the 12 week mark when the risk of miscarriage is significantly lower.

This makes me really sad for the mother, having gone through loss myself, and I can't imagine having the whole ordeal publicized and being treated as something possibly criminal.

If the article is actually accurate, then someone made some really dumb and potentially harmful decisions by releasing this to the press.

 

[iulia]

https://www.kansas.com/news/local/article237834434.html

A human fetus found in box on a Arkansas River sandbar in November died from a “stillbirth/miscarriage of unknown cause,” the coroner’s office found during an autopsy.
[...]
Police on Nov. 4 asked members of the public to call detectives at 316-268-4407 if they knew who put the fetus in the box and why. When the department announced the discovery, it said it didn’t expect any crime had occurred.

Officer Charley Davidson said Monday that authorities were able to find and talk to everyone involved in the case.