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DES MOINES, Iowa – Two people have been arrested for murder after a newborn child was found dead on a road in Iowa, police said Monday.
Police in the city of Norwalk were contacted March 8 with concerns about the safety of a child, and police started an investigation with the state Division of Criminal Investigation, according to a news release. Law enforcement and volunteers found a newborn child that had died along the road in Warren County.
Law enforcement determined that Megan K. Staude, 25, of Norwalk had given birth to the baby in late February. She and her 64-year-old father, Rodney A. Staude, allegedly left the baby to die and then “disposed of it”, according to the release. They have both been arrested for murder.
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Newborn was put in trash bag while still alive
Megan Staude and Rodney Staude allegedly placed the baby boy in a trash bag while he was still alive and then discarded the bag in a ditch, according to recently released court documents.
On Monday, Megan Staude allegedly confessed to police that she gave birth at home on Feb. 24, put her son in a box and did not provide care, according to a criminal complaint filed in the case against her father. Megan Staude allegedly told police that after two days, she and her father placed the baby in a trash bag while he was still alive.
Rodney Staude also allegedly confessed the same to police. He said they disposed of the body while it was in the bag, according to the complaint.
“It’s just a tragic set of circumstances on a number of levels,” said Norwalk police chief Greg Staples, who declined to comment on the specifics of the case. “That baby didn’t have the choice to decide his own fate and now there’s people in jail because of it.”
Mother, grandfather lied to police, authorities say
The newly released court documents detail how the mother and grandfather allegedly lied to police about how the newborn died in the days leading up to their arrest.
Law enforcement officials responded to a tip called in from Megan Staude’s coworkers on March 8 regarding the health and safety of her newborn baby, according to the criminal complaint. At the time, Staude allegedly told Norwalk police the baby died while on the way to the hospital and that she buried him at the St. Johns Cemetery in Cumming.
After searching the cemetery, the complaint states officers “did not notice any disturbed ground or signs of a fresh burial.”
Rodney Staude originally told law enforcement he had no knowledge of the baby’s death, the complaint says. But a day later, he allegedly told officials his daughter had given birth a few weeks prior but the baby died on the way to a Des Moines-area hospital. He said he then placed the deceased baby in a plastic bag and disposed of the body “in a ditch south of Norwalk,” according to the complaint. He took police to the location where, using a cadaver dog, they discovered the deceased newborn’s body in a tied trash bag.
Police issued a search warrant of the family home in Norwalk, where they found signs that a birth had taken place there. A witness also shared a text conversation with Megan Staude, in which the witness asked her “was the baby alive when you left him?” and she replied “a little,” the complaint says.
The results of an autopsy are pending and the investigation is ongoing.
The Staudes were booked into the Warren County Jail on Monday. Rodney Staude has a $1 million bond. Bond information for Megan Staude was not immediately available. If convicted, they face a life sentence.
Iowa’s safe haven law for newborns
Under Iowa law, a parent, or someone with a parent’s permission, may leave an infant up to 90 days old at a hospital or health care facility without fear of legal action for abandonment, according to the state Department of Health and Human Services.
A parent also can call 911 and give the child to a first responder. Parents who relinquish their children under the Safe Haven Act are not required to give identification.
Iowa’s safe haven law has been in place since 2002 after a teenager in Chelsea gave birth and left the newborn in a snowbank the year prior.
More than 50 newborns have received the safe haven status under the law, according to the human services department.
Follow Francesca Block on Twitter at @francescablock3. Follow Chris Higgins on Twitter @chris_higgins_.
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