Woman Charged With Murder for Suffocating Her Newborn Daughter to Conceal Pregnancy

State   |   Steven Ertelt   |   May 21, 2014   |   10:33AM   |   Washington, DC

Melissa Mitin, a 24-year-old woman from Michigan, has been charged with murder after allegedly suffocating her newborn daughter to death to conceal her pregnancy to family and friends.

Mitin allegedly had not known about her pregnancy when she delivered the baby in December, according to local police officials. The infant was born alive and was a few minutes old when she died, the State Journal newspaper reports.

From the report:

melissamitinPolice were called to Lansing’s Sparrow Hospital early Dec. 26 after the baby girl was taken to its labor and delivery ward, court records show. She already had died when she arrived at Sparrow.

Authorities later learned Mitin had delivered the child at a home in the 2000 block of Belding Court in Okemos.

According to court records, Dr. Joyce deJong, Ingham County’s medical examiner, ruled the death a “homicide due to a positional asphyxiation or due to a positional cause,” although she could not determine during autopsy how the baby was suffocated.

CLICK LIKE IF YOU’RE PRO-LIFE!

 

In his testimony, Reed said Mitin had not known about her pregnancy and the baby’s death “had been intentional — or intentional acts involved in (an) attempt to conceal this birth.”

Mitin was arrested and arraigned May 12 in 55th District Court on the murder charge. She faces up to life in prison if convicted. She is free on a $5,000 bond, according to court records.