Teen Finds Baby in Dumpster w/ Umbilical Cord Still Attached, Tied in White Trash Bag
In 2015, South Carolina woman Shelby Taylor was 23 years old, a mother to a 16-month-old baby, and recently married to the baby’s father.
Shelby knew that her husband did not want a second baby, but soon enough she found herself pregnant again. She managed to keep the pregnancy a secret from her husband, alleging that she was afraid of what he might do to her if he found out.
So Shelby secretly gave birth to the baby inside her home one morning and decided to do the unthinkable to keep her secret. She put the newborn girl, with the umbilical cord still attached, into a bag of trash and left her to die inside a dumpster at her apartment.
But later that night, 13-year-old Raymond Price and his brother were taking out the trash when they heard what they first believed to be a cat crying.
When they went to rescue it from the trash, however, they came across a much more horrifying scene. A baby, with its “face pressed up against the bag,” but still alive.
The brothers immediately pulled the bag out of the dumpster. Raymond ran for help while his brother stayed to watch over the baby.
Police soon arrived, immediately taking the baby to a nearby hospital for medical attention. When she was discovered, she was only hours old and still covered in blood and afterbirth.
After carefully going through the trash from the bag, police also came across a time-stamped receipt from a local restaurant.
That evidence led them to retrieve security footage from that time at the restaurant. They uncovered an image of a woman to circulate across the media.
The same night, Shelby received a call from her grandmother asking why her photo was circulating the news. She immediately went with her parents to the police station.
But in her first interview with police, she denied ever being pregnant and stated that she had no knowledge of the baby at all. “I wouldn’t do this,” she said. “I’m not that type of person. I wouldn’t do this. I’m a good person.”
Then police contacted her husband, and Shelby’s story immediately changed. After that, she admitted everything.
She spent the following two days in the hospital due to complications with the birth. Afterward, she was booked into jail on attempted murder.
But now, two years later, Shelby’s case is being revisited on the grounds of her having an extreme case of postpartum depression called “transient perinatal psychosis.”
Thankfully, the baby survived and was taken to a more suitable home. She has just had her 3rd birthday.
Shelby has pleaded not guilty to attempted homicide by child abuse. Her trial is currently ongoing, with family members still expected to take the stand and a doctor to testify to her mental state that day.
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