Teenager, 17, held on murder charges after newborn baby found dead and partially buried behind apartment building
- The newborn had been lying behind the building for up to a month in Muskegon, Michigan, police said on Tuesday
- Jessica Brewster, 17, who attends Muskegon High School was arrested on Monday night and 'admitted her connection to the child's death'
- The baby was found on Monday afternoon behind a senior living complex after a janitor initially thought it was a doll
A teenage girl has been held on murder charges after the body of a newborn baby was found half-buried in the dirt behind an apartment block.
The child had been lying outside, face down, for up to a month in Muskegon, Michigan, authorities said on Tuesday.
The baby's body was found on Monday afternoon by a janitor at the apartment block, who at first thought the child was a doll.
Jessica Brewster, 17, who attends Muskegon High School was arrested on Monday night and 'admitted' her connection to the child's death. It is believed she acted alone, according to police, and that she is the mother of the baby.
Scroll down for video
Jessica Brewster, 17, a senior at Muskegon High School in Michigan could face a murder charge after a newborn baby was found dead in the dirt behind an apartment block on Monday
The area at Trinity Manor in Muskegon, Michigan on Tuesday where the body of a newborn infant was found on Monday afternoon. A 17-year-old Muskegon High School student was arrested over the death
The high school senior has been arrested and was being held at the Muskegon County Jail.
Detectives told WZZM that the baby was likely born in October and soon afterwards left behind the senior living complex where Brewster's grandmother has a home.
The child's cause of death has not been revealed.
After the baby's body was discovered, detectives canvassed the neighborhood to ask if any pregnant relatives had visited recently.
Share this article
One resident, reportedly Brewster's grandmother, sent police to talk to the teenager.
Muskegon Public Safety Director Jeffrey Lewis told WZZM: 'It was a 17-year-old female who admitted she was in fact pregnant and had the baby sometime in mid-October.'
Calls to Muskegon Public Safety Director Jeffrey Lewis by MailOnline went unanswered on Tuesday.
Arleen Clements, the janitor who found the baby's body, told MLive that she was in a state of shock over the death.
Arleen Clements talks about finding an infant buried in the dirt at Trinity Manor where she works as a janitor
She said: 'I just opened the door and looked down and saw it. My mind told me it wasn't a baby. I looked down closer to it.
'I saw a little leg and little toes. I stood there thinking, ''Am I seeing what I'm seeing? Could it be a doll baby?'"
But she said it was the little toes on the exposed legs of the baby that filled her with dread.
'A doll doesn't have little wrinkles on its toe like that. I just knew it was a baby then,' she said.
The case is being reviewed by the county prosecutor and a decision on whether Brewster will be charged is expected to be made on Wednesday.
A Muskegon police car is parked outside Trinity Manor on Tuesday after the baby's body was found. A 17-year-old girl is facing murder charges and investigators believe the newborn was her child
Most watched News videos
- Shameless drug dealer dances wielding a knife in nightclub
- 'You're just destroying people' Furious motorist confronts eco mob
- Students evacuated as authorities rush to scene of Russia shooting
- PM praises vaccines while meeting Brazil's unvaccinated president
- The audible crackling of lava as it sloshes into residential area
- Police statement on Killamarsh deaths of father and three children
- CCTV shows women packing ballots into a box in Bryansk, Russia
- Father of 'murdered' children shares video of photos of them
- Six shot dead as gunman starts a massacre at Russian university
- Alleged thief cries out in pain as Taliban flog him in public
- Heavily-armed gunman seen stalking campus to begin killing spree
- Four people found dead in Derbyshire house as man held in custody
