OR - Angelica Swartout charged in death of newborn, Springfield, 18 Oct 2010

[Missizzy]

I'd wondered about this case and checked in. Do articles just suddenly appear, as if by magic? How could we have possibly missed this:

http://www.kval.com/news/111640064.html

"....According to a SPD [Springfield, OR] affidavit, on Oct. 18 Swartout went into labor and delivered a baby boy. Police said Swartout went into labor while at work alone at Crossland Economy Studios in Springfield.

Police said she gave birth in the employee washroom, then wrapped the live baby in a dirty bed sheet from the laundry room and smothered him until she was sure he was dead. Police said she then disposed of the body in the dumpster outside of the motel.
But that day Swartout told her family a different story. Swartout told police she sent a text message to her sister when she arrived at work and told her sister that she was at the hospital to deliver the baby. She told her sister that doctors had determined that the child had no heartbeat and was going to induce labor.

Police said Swartout returned home that night and told her sister the story about the stillborn and sent her a text message photo of a dead baby she found on the Internet and claimed the child was her baby.

Police allege Swartout had considered murdering her child when it was born several weeks before she gave birth. Police said prior to the birth, Swartout had researched stillbirth babies and symptoms associated with various pregnancy maladies.

more at link (68 comments and a photo of Angie)

 

[Missizzy]

Possibly some closure on this sad case:

http://www.kval.com/news/local/125087894.html

Settlement conference for mom accused of killing newborn
July 6, 2011

"Attorneys for a Springfield woman accused of killing her newborn son and dumping him in a trash can are taking part in a settlement conference with prosecutors in judge's chambers...."

and

"....Springfield police said the boy's mother, Angelica Swartout, confessed to killing him shortly after giving birth in and putting his body in a dumpster. Swartout faces one count of aggravated murder...."

and

"...The judge presiding over the conference is from Portland. KVAL News has learned that the judge was the only jurist both sides could agree to have preside over the conference."

more at link

 

[Missizzy]

Not so quick, I guess....

http://www.registerguard.com/web/ne...-police-attorneys-springfield-county.html.csp

Lawyers: Swartout pressured to confess
July 23, 2011

"A Springfield woman who admitted to killing her newborn son confessed under pressure from police who interrogated her under circumstances that violated her constitutional rights, her attorneys allege in court filings...."

and

"....[Angelica] Swartout, 23, has been held in the Lane County Jail since December on a charge of aggravated murder. Prosecutors have not said whether they will seek the death penalty if Swartout is convicted. Swartout’s lawyers have noted that police found no body and have argued that police have no medical evidence that Swarthout was actually pregnant before the alleged crime. In court in June, they said a pregnancy test on Swartout showed that she was not pregnant in March 2010, when the alleged murder victim would have been a third-month fetus if born full-term in October...."

and

"....In June, Lane County Circuit Judge Suzanne Chanti refused to free Swartout after defense attorneys argued that prosecutors lacked evidence corroborating Swartout’s confession to police that she delivered and then suffocated a live baby boy on Oct. 18. Swartout’s trial is scheduled to begin in November."

More at link

 

[Missizzy]

Last we heard, Swartout was in settlement conferences. This is kind of a bombshell:

http://kezi.com/news/local/225894

Swartout Lawyers Question Pregnancy, Evidence
September 27, 2011

"Attorneys of a Springfield mother accused of killing her newborn baby are claiming she was never actually pregnant. As Angelica Swartout continues to be held at the Lane County Jail for allegedly killing her son Lucious, her lawyers have filed a motion that disputes she was ever pregnant in the first place and that investigators have no proof of a live birth. They claim there is "no blood evidence in the motel where the state alleges the birth took place...."

and

"....She has some 60 something adopted brothers and sisters, and there's a special place for pregnant mothers and babies in that family," said Gordon Mallon, Swartout's lawyer. "The claim that she didn't receive the love and attention of our family and that was the first taste of it she got is completely fabricated," said JS, Swartout's sister. JS says she has no doubt her sister was pregnant, saying she felt and saw baby Lucious moving before he was born...."

more at link


While I certainly understand a woman wanting attention, I hardly think it appropriate to comment about "60 something adopted brothers and sisters". Those are fighting words for me. First off, the children and adults are legally adopted, thus they are simply siblings--not adopted siblings. The family grew to it's present size over decades, offering permanency to foster children. It's not as if there were 60 children in a home. Those statements are highly offensive to any large specialized adoptive family. Secondly, I highly doubt that there's not a medical way for a physician to determine whether or not this woman gave birth to a full term infant. And remember, Swartout was researching stillbirths and infant death long before the baby came. I'd be prone to listen to a sister who had actually felt that little guy moving. I still can't shake the possibility that she sold or gave the child to someone.

 

[JeannieC]

It doesn't make sense that she would name him, murder him, and place him in a dumpster.

 

[scandi]

How sad as this lady must have really wanted to have a baby. No body found, pregnancy test in March negative - I think Lane County is going to have to eat a bit of crow. People confess to crimes all the time. Usually they are a bit mental which is probably the case here.

This should go national. They'd release her real quick like IMO.

God Bless her and I hope she gets out of jail and into a hospital. xox

 

[JeannieC]

How sad as this lady must have really wanted to have a baby. No body found, pregnancy test in March negative - I think Lane County is going to have to eat a bit of crow. People confess to crimes all the time. Usually they are a bit mental which is probably the case here.

This should go national. They'd release her real quick like IMO.

God Bless her and I hope she gets out of jail and into a hospital. xox

This is so strange. She obviously needs help. LE is investigating based on what was told to them. If they didn't they'd be in hot water. I think a psych evaluation will be the only way to get to the truth here.

So sad!

 

[Soulmagent]

I hope it was a lie. I am not sure but I hope it was.

 

[Missizzy]

I can't shake this case. I keep thinking of all the possibilities. This woman seemed to be in good standing with her family. She didn't hide a pregnancy, she announced it. She had a job where she seemed to be well-liked. She seemed to enjoy spending time with her sisters. This family is all about second chances and caring for one another. Why not ask for a sister's help when she found herself wavering about wanting to keep her child. I have not a doubt in the world that he would have been embraced by the family.

If the article is referring to the sister I think they are, she has children. She'd definitely know a pregnant belly. That's what leaves me wondering. There's no faking the kicks which a baby makes.

I'm really on the fence and totally agree with Scandi that this young woman needs psychological help.

 

[JeannieC]

Have they examined her to see if she actually had a baby?

 

[Soulmagent]

If I was faking ,and had gas one day. I might make a point of letting my sister feel my belly to give my lie meaning to her.

Or even "did you feel that?" might have made the sister believe she had. Like maybe she didnt but said she did and then later really thought she did. Ya know?

 

[Missizzy]

Could be...but I still think it's a stretch. Most of this woman's sisters are either mothers or have been around a number of pregnant moms. Here's an article from today. The story her attorney tells could be the truth but why not confess to police that it was all a ploy. There's certainly no crime in lying to your family. But to say that you killed an infant? Wouldn't this woman have come clean upon her first court appearance?

http://registerguard.com/web/newslocalnews/26952240-41/swartout-mallon-police-baby-birth.html.csp

No blood means no birth, woman’s defense says
September 29, 2011

"The attorney for Angelica Swartout, the Springfield woman charged with killing her newborn son, is seeking to use the results of a forensic test to bolster her claim that she never had the baby. A recent test failed to detect blood in the motel bathroom where Swartout allegedly gave birth and suffocated her child nearly a year earlier..."

and

“....There were areas where he would have expected to find blood traces even now had a birth occurred in this room,” [Swartout’s attorney, Gordon] Mallon wrote in the motion. “Of course, the evidence would have been much stronger had the police done even a rudimentary investigation of the crime scene at the time of the initial arrest of our client....”

and

"....A 15-member team searched three days through muddy trash at Lane County’s Short Mountain landfill after her statement to police, but failed to find a child’s remains. Since June, however, Swartout’s lawyers have claimed that she confessed under pressure from police and never had the baby...."

and

"...Swartout told relatives about her pregnancy and for the “first time in her life she received the love and focused attention that in her family goes out to babies and their mothers,” Mallon wrote. But a later pregnancy test proved negative, he wrote. “She did not tell her sister or any of the rest of her family that she was not pregnant. She could not, at that point, give up the showers of love and attention that were pouring down on her from her family..."


More at link

 

[JeannieC]

This is so sad..........

 

[cluciano63]

If the only "evidence" this did NOT happen is lack of blood...I don't believe it.

 

[JeannieC]

If the only "evidence" this did NOT happen is lack of blood...I don't believe it.

Can't they examine her to tell if she has given birth? That would easily end the argument. Not to mention blood work, Hormone checks, etc. imo

 

[Missizzy]

I've asked that same question. From what I understand, the woman does not have children. Surely an OB/GYN could tell if she's given birth to a full term baby. Surely, she was examined upon arrest. One would think. If a doctor determined definitively that she had not given birth, her attorneys would be yelling that from the rooftops.

I've attended many births as a doula and while they are not blood free, it's hardly like a crime scene where there would be blood spatter.

 

[Missizzy]

I just reread our thread to see if I'd missed anything. I came upon this in an earlier post:

http://www.kval.com/news/111640064.html


"....Police said Swartout returned home that night and told her sister the story about the stillborn and sent her a text message photo of a dead baby she found on the Internet and claimed the child was her baby...."

and

"....Police allege Swartout had considered murdering her child when it was born several weeks before she gave birth. Police said prior to the birth, Swartout had researched stillbirth babies and symptoms associated with various pregnancy maladies...."

I checked and the link is still good but they've removed the comments.

OK, so let's say this young woman is mentally ill or using drugs (as her niece opined) and she wanted her family's attention. I can grasp that story. But pregnancies come to an end. It sounds like she either planned a murder or planned the subterfuge of losing her baby. She sent her sister a photo, after all. Why not tell her sister that she'd working with an adoption agency to place the infant if she wanted to put an end to the "game"? The sister would have no way to check that out as that information is totally confidential. Being adopted herself and having many adopted siblings, she'd most likely get a lot of family support if she told that story, thus encouraging the attention to continue. Why admit to a murder if she didn't commit one?

I also noticed that she didn't seem to engage with her family right after the birth/death/loss. There was no memorial, no wake, no going home to the bosom of her family for solace. That makes no sense. Had she gotten what she needed--a few months of attention over a fake pregnancy? It took the curiosity of a number of her sisters and their persistence to learn the truth. They are the ones who made the calls to the hospital and finally to the police.

I also noticed that she said she gave birth in the restroom but used a dirty sheet from the laundry room to smother the child. The article doesn't say where she reportedly killed the baby. They've also changed the boy's name. It was Lucius in earlier reports and is now listed as Lucious. Odd.

The whole situation is perplexing and must be heart wrenching for the family.

 

[JeannieC]

I can't understand any of this! She either has serious mental problems, drug use, or she killed her baby. I can't figure out any of it!

 

[Missizzy]

JeannieC--This case really bothers me too. It's not often that you hope and pray for a lie and/or mental illness but this is one of those times.

 

[JeannieC]

I'm so tired of hearing about young women killing their newborn babies. I have a niece who had tumors, very large ones. She had to have a hysterectemy. She teaches kindergarten and loves children. She is single and will never have her own child. There are so many people who want a child. Why murder them?

Its a very selfish act.