Autopsy: Newborn girl found dead in Uptown was beaten to death
CHICAGO (FOX 32 News) - The Cook County Medical Examiner’s office has determined that an infant baby girl, found outside an Uptown high rise, was murdered. She died from multiple blunt force trauma.
The baby was found by a security guard late Tuesday night.
On Wednesday night, Chicago police were back at the scene sorting through dumpsters trying find any evidence that might have been discarded. Authorities were hoping to find evidence that could eventually help prove who the mother of the baby was, and help detectives determine who killed the little girl and why.
“It's just insane, I don't know, I already thought there was a lot of crazy stuff going around, going on around here, but this is just new, I'm really just kind of in shock to hear that,” said Michael Malcom, who lives nearby.
The medical examiner determined the newborn African American girl was beaten to death. A memorial with balloons and numerous teddy bears stands under the tree near the patch of grass where the girl’s body was dumped.
Natalie Herrera, who lives in the high rise next door, left flowers and stuffed animals. She couldn't comprehend a mother doing that.
“Put it up for adoption, but to beat the baby like that, you don't hurt a child it's not their fault coming in to the world,” Herrera said.
“That's really scary and sad that someone would do something like that because Weiss Hospital is right around the corner, it's half a block away and so that doesn't make any sense to us,” said Nicole Ostanski, who teaches at Uplift High School, which is right next door.
At the high school, crisis counselors were on hand to help students process the news. The mood at school was noticeably different Wednesday, and teachers struggled with what to tell students.
“You do the best you can, you explain to them that some people make mistakes and stuff like that should just never happened, and he had to talk about it because that's the biggest thing we always want to say is talk about things and not just let them go,” Ostanski said.
Chicago police say at this point, they are handling this case as a death investigation.