Police search landfill for infant, find nothing

Montgomery police officers were searching a landfill in Salem Tuesday for an infant they believe may have been placed in the trash.

Major Huey Thornton of the Montgomery Police Department said Tuesday evening that the search had been called off in Lee County after no evidence of the child was found.

Thornton said officers plan to meet today to discuss their next steps in the investigation.

Police began a death investigation after a hospital reported that a pregnant woman came in on Oct. 19 and refused to deliver.

“The doctor advised her that she needed to deliver that day … she came back approximately a week later. She came back complaining of a cold,” Thornton said. She was not pregnant on the second visit, he said.

Area hospitals were checked to see if the woman had given birth, Thornton said, but no records of a birth were found.

“We have reason to believe the baby may have been delivered and placed in the trash,” Thornton said.

The trash from the area in Montgomery where the woman lives is transferred to Lee County and possibly other locations, he said.

Thornton said the woman is not in custody because they are waiting until they find a body to file charges.

“We haven’t filed any charges at this point, we’ll have to talk to the D.A.’s office and see what charges we can pursue on her,” he said. “Not finding a body is not going to preclude us from filing charges.”

“These were the two locations that the company indicated to us,” he said.