Police say they found dead Auburn baby malnourished, dehydrated, with broken ribs



AUBURN, Wash. – The parents of a 4-month-old baby who was found dead early last Thursday morning waited at least 45 minutes to call the police after they found the girl non-responsive, and an autopsy found the child had multiple rib fractures and was in an “obvious state of malnourishment and dehydration,” according to probable-cause documents released by the Auburn police department on Monday.

The child’s mother appeared in King County court on Saturday, and a judge found probable cause to keep her in custody and ordered her bail set at $1 million. The child’s father was scheduled to appear in court Monday afternoon for a bond hearing but didn't appear. A judge already made a probable-cause finding.

Q13 News isn’t naming the parents because they haven’t been charged with a crime.

The autopsy found the girl weighed 8.2 pounds at the time of her death, four months after she was born at 6.5 pounds.

The girl’s mother allegedly told police that lesions found around the girl’s lips and under her chin were caused when the father bit her, “suspending (the baby) in the air with his mouth for several minutes, his top teeth embedded into her lips and his bottom teeth into her chin.” The mother also said the father had hit the girl in the head and stepped on her when she was lying in bed.

According to the court documents, the girl’s mother worked as a courier and said she would bring the baby – and the rest of her children – along with her as she worked. She said the infant spent seven days a week, 10 hours a day in her car seat.

Police said when they arrived at the house, they found feces and “biological waste” on the floors.