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Missing infant's body found at dump site

Monday, January 5, 2009 6:35 PM PST

By Tim Klass
The Associated Press

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SEATTLE  — The body of a baby boy believed drowned in a toilet was found Monday by authorities combing through 60 tons of trash at a dump site near Tacoma, and a teenager believed to be the mother was held on $500,000 bail.

Investigators from the Port Angeles police, Pierce County sheriff’s office, Tacoma police and a State Patrol crime laboratory spotted the tiny body about 2:10 p.m. as heavy equipment was used to comb through the partially compacted garbage.

The 16-year-old girl “put her baby face down into a toilet and allowed it to drown for several minutes until it died. Then she threw her son into the trash can outside in a plastic garbage bag,” Port Angeles police Detective Jesse Winfield wrote in an affidavit filed Monday in Clallam County Superior Court.

The affidavit did not elaborate and Winfield was out of his office late Monday.

An autopsy was pending, and DNA testing to confirm the infant’s parentage might not be available for a month or more, Port Angeles Police Chief Terry Gallagher told The Associated Press.

In a brief Superior Court hearing Monday in Port Angeles, bail was set at $500,000 for the teen, who remained in juvenile detention for investigation of first- or second-degree murder. Prosecutor Deborah S. Kelly said another hearing was scheduled Wednesday.

The girl will be charged as an adult, Kelly said.

Bail was set at $10,000 for her father, Ronald Last Jr., 41, who was charged Monday with being a felon in possession of a firearm and possession of methamphetamine, both felonies, and with concealing a birth, a gross misdemeanor, the prosecutor added. He remained in the Clallam County jail.

Last has an extensive court record with civil and criminal cases dating from 1985 in King, Snohomish, Kitsap and Clallam counties, Gallagher said.

Information on his felony conviction or convictions was not immediately available, but Gallagher said, “We’ve dealt with him for years.”

Police in Port Angeles, about 65 miles northwest of Seattle on the Olympic Peninsula, believe the baby boy died after being born to the girl early Tuesday and was put in trash that was picked up the next day. Garbage from Wednesday was in two containers that initially were taken to a transfer station in Tacoma, about 80 miles southeast of Port Angeles, for transshipment to Oregon, Waste Collections Inc. officials said.

The containers were then rerouted to a site in Graham, about eight miles southeast of Tacoma, to provide more room to conduct the grisly search.

Gallagher told the Peninsula Daily News in Port Angeles that a woman came to the police station Friday and said she had seen a baby in a trash can in an alley behind the girl’s house, but the can was empty when officers arrived.

“This is a very sad case,” Gallagher told the newspaper. “I think it is particularly tragic that this girl had so little support that she wasn’t able to recognize any other option than what happened.”

He said investigators believe the girl delivered the baby at the home at about 3 a.m. Tuesday. She was provided with medical care before she was incarcerated.

“I don’t believe that she had any medical care before we took her into custody,” Gallagher said.

During a search of the home, police found a gun and what first appeared to be a pipe bomb but turned out to be a device that can be attached to the bottom of a car for transporting illegal drugs, “a fairly common method,” he said.

Four other men and several other juveniles also lived at the house, he added.

The 16-year-old moved from Pueblo, Colo., where her mother lives, to her father’s home in Port Angeles in October. Law enforcement in Pueblo has been contacted, and investigators have determined that the father of the baby “is an adult, not a minor,” Gallagher said.

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lilsue62 wrote on Jan 5, 2009 3:07 PM:

" Oh my god! what have people become? Animals to kill a new born baby! People people if you don't want children stop having sex. Its that easy. I hope the girl and the girls father both go to prison for what they have done. God bless this child and take him into your waiting arms my lord. He did not deserve this. He was the innocent one. "

Pinky wrote on Jan 5, 2009 3:11 PM:

" So... when can we schedule this girl for a hysterectomy??? To throw away a life so literally is such a heinous crime that her right to breed should be taken away!! "

Tasha_05 wrote on Jan 5, 2009 3:19 PM:

" Can we say MENTAL! That is ridiculous, she should definately be put in prison, I don't care if she was 16 and maybe not ready for a child, she got herself into it and there were safer things she could have done.. How cruel could somebody be! "

frankenzombie wrote on Jan 5, 2009 3:25 PM:

" That is the best idea I have ever heard, Pinky! I agree!!! "

Beer&Skittles wrote on Jan 5, 2009 4:07 PM:

" The chances are HIGHLY likely that this mother wasn't a mother by her choice. It sounds like she has been raised in an awful situation, and to say for her to just get out is unrealistic, she wouldn't know what it means. The article said the father of the child was likely an adult, not another juvenile. Sounds like the poor girl was "passed around", and it appears that her father had something to do with the death of the baby. There are some "families" that just shouldn't be. This sounds like one of them. "

abokaa wrote on Jan 5, 2009 4:24 PM:

" From the sounds of it, her dad probably wouldn't let her go to the hospital. I don't blame the girl, She was 16. She was in labor. Her dad was a convicted felon with meth and fire arms in his possession.The article doesn't say the killed the baby, it says the baby died sometime after it was born. It also says the girl had no medical care after the birth until she was arrested. And it says the father isn't a minor, but an adult. You people should lose your right to serve on a jury. "

ex longview resident wrote on Jan 5, 2009 4:59 PM:

" This is such a sad story! Maybe she was hiding that she was pregnant and possibly scared of her dad? I don't think she should be tried, I think the father does! Poor girl! "

Dovey wrote on Jan 5, 2009 6:01 PM:

" It says that an "adult" got her pregnant. Sounds to me that the girls father knew this and wanted to protect the "father" which was probably himself, so he wouldn't get into trouble. I think that she may not have been the one to kill it. It says she has not received any medical attention til time of arrest. Think about it. I think she is a victim just as the baby was. God bless the innocent. "

lola*in*longview wrote on Jan 5, 2009 6:14 PM:

" abokaa are you serious? You don't blame her? Who do you blame? She knew she was pregnant,she could have gotten help. Her father couldn't be around all the time, if that is the reason she didn't get help. Who killed the baby? HER she put it in a trash can and forgot about it like yesterday's news, and you don't blame her. This girl should be sterilized and kept behind bars for a very long time. I pray that baby was taken quickly and painlessly, it is so sad to know that a little innocent baby died alone in the trash. "

lola*in*longview wrote on Jan 5, 2009 6:20 PM:

" abokaa reread the article, it says she drowned her baby, then put it in the trash. It doesn't say anything about her father not letting her get medical attention, it says he was arrested for being a felon in posession of a firearm and a few other things. I guess I comprehended enough facts to know which way to go if I served on the jury, aparently you didn't go back and take another look. "

DS wrote on Jan 5, 2009 6:26 PM:

" Maybe the baby died from natural causes, cause of death has not yet been determined, if that was the case it might not be murder. Don't judge the case until all the info is available. "

fraidykatt wrote on Jan 5, 2009 6:34 PM:

" Abokka, read the article. It does say she killed the baby by drowning it in the toilet. "

itskarma wrote on Jan 5, 2009 6:43 PM:

" Now, just imagine that this child would have been protected and not become pregnant? Then neither she or the infant would have had to suffer.
Imagine she wasn't living in a hell most of us would not allow livestock to suffer through.
How many families like this do you think are right here in this town? Either we didn't discover the body OR the poor babies are born to hell on earth and if they survive are often a danger to themselves and others. "

frankenzombie wrote on Jan 5, 2009 6:44 PM:

" Yes, I shouldn't be allowed to serve on a jury, because I would try to get justice for a murdered infant. How horrible am I?! "

used to live in kalama wrote on Jan 5, 2009 6:48 PM:

" RE: Abokka...learn to read. She dunked her newborn into a toilet until it died, and then she put it in a TRASH BAG and put it in the TRASH CAN! I guess this says volumes of what she considered her child to be. Mabye she needs to look in a mirror, because I'm pretty sure the "trash" would be right in front of her eyes. You people saying "poor girl"...let me guess...you're all pro choice? You think it's ok to kill a baby in the womb, so why not in a toilet? What has this world come to?! "

ex longview resident wrote on Jan 5, 2009 7:04 PM:

" Used to live in Kalama - Actually, I am not pro-choice! I believe that this girl did kill the baby but I also believe that her father threatened this girl! Or maybe he told her to kill it so he wouldn't be inconvienced. I have a hard time always looking at the negative in these things. I think it is very sad that a little boy died! "

Beer&Skittles wrote on Jan 5, 2009 7:14 PM:

" No one says they're "Pro Choice" here - It's just that most of you have no idea what kind of family situations are actually out there (some of us who work around them do!). I just say it's highly likely that this girl wasn't in a position to have made choices you would approve of, first one being A) to not have sex with an adult, B) to get pregnant from that encounter (and likely many others), and C) see any life other than hell for her or her child. YOU JUST DON'T KNOW HOW AWFUL SOME OF THESE SITUATIONS ACTUALLY ARE. She may not be a princess either - I'm just saying that one can hardly grow up to be a nice person, when they may never have been exposed to a nice person, and in fact may only have been around disastrously horrible people all her life. Likely she was the product of an awful situation. "

castlerockreader wrote on Jan 5, 2009 7:45 PM:

" OMG!!!!! Both the girl and her father need to be put away! There are so many childless couples in the area that this little one would not have had to wait for a home! And there are safe places to leave a baby in the area where they are from that killing a helpless infant is un excusable!!!! I pray that God will have mercy on them because nobody else is going to! And He has another Angel for His choir in Heaven. May this little baby boy find peace with our Lord and Savior! "

grrrowl wrote on Jan 5, 2009 7:51 PM:

" I don't think the part about drowning it in a toilet was in the original posting of the article, I think TDN updated the story with that info. So the first several people to comment didn't have that information. "

Scot Heisel, TDN wrote on Jan 5, 2009 7:56 PM:

" Yes, the story was updated at 6:35 p.m. The previous version of the story did not include the excerpt from Port Angeles police Detective Jesse Winfield's affidavit. "

country gal wrote on Jan 5, 2009 8:01 PM:

" I can't believe the many warp-minded beings that still exist in our society. Obviously, these warp-minded beings have no conscience whatsoever and beause our justice system stinks, they know they can get away with it by making up an excuse. This makes me sick! "

DUH wrote on Jan 5, 2009 8:15 PM:

" I just wonder if her father did it and she is taking the fall for it because she wont get near the time that he would. I wonder if her father isn't also the father of the baby and did this to try and cover up the fact. "

greenbean wrote on Jan 5, 2009 8:43 PM:

" Maybe she is a cold blooded killer with no concern at all for the newborn...maybe she is a scared child, abused and threatened and forced to do what she did... maybe in her mind she was protecting the baby by removing him from the situation...we don't know any of that yet. It sure is too bad that someone outside of her family couldn't intervene to save both her and the baby's lives. :( "

candy wrote on Jan 5, 2009 9:43 PM:

" This girl is a child herself, and none of us really know what happened. To say that she deserves to be sterilized, is not rational thinking. If the paper is correct and the father of the baby is an adult, then one probably doesn't have to look much farther then the girls back yard to figure out who the daddy is. Remember that if she gave birth at 16, then she was most likely 15 when she got pregnant. The paper doesn't say much about where this young girls mother is, but it sounds like maybe she is a "victim" herself. My heart goes out to both the baby and this young girl. "

re-read&think wrote on Jan 5, 2009 11:52 PM:

" I think some people need to go back and re-read this story. The girl had lived in Pueblo, Colo. with her mother. The police in Pueblo have determined the father is an adult. This story is sad enough without people jumping to conclusions about her father having impregnated her. Here is the last paragraph for clarification.


The 16-year-old moved from Pueblo, Colo., where her mother lives, to her father’s home in Port Angeles in October. Law enforcement in Pueblo has been contacted, and investigators have determined that the father of the baby “is an adult, not a minor,” Gallagher said.


Also, for those who commented maybe the girl didn't do it or maybe the baby died of natural causes, this is not what the story said. Read the third paragraph.

The 16-year-old girl “put her baby face down into a toilet and allowed it to drown for several minutes until it died. Then she threw her son into the trash can outside in a plastic garbage bag,” Port Angeles police Detective Jesse Winfield wrote in an affidavit filed Monday in Clallam County Superior Court.

At 16 years old you know right from wrong and need to be held accountable. "

livin-in-longview wrote on Jan 6, 2009 1:51 AM:

" I am not sure where some of you are getting that she is living in a bad situation? Yes her dad has a rap sheet a mile long but that doesn't mean he's a bad father to her or treats her bad. Maybe she screwed up and she talked him into helping her or didn't tell him until after she did it! You shouldn't assume things from an article untill all the information is available which sounds like it won't be for a while. "

areader wrote on Jan 6, 2009 5:20 AM:

" Re-read the last paragraph of this article. This girl just moved from Colorado, her mothers home, in October. This means that she was pregnant BEFORE moving in with her father. The girl's father would NOT be the father of the infant. I do agree with the comment about killing in the womb IS killing a child, a person created in God's image with a soul. "

Pinky wrote on Jan 6, 2009 8:20 AM:

" For the later posters, I stand by my recommendation for her hysterectomy!! Candy, read the article again, your post comes after the update that clearly states that she moved to her father's house in October, meaning she was already pregnant when she moved here. And just because it states the father was an adult, keep in mind that could mean anything from 18 on up. I don't know about everyone else, but think back to high school, how many 16 year olds dated guys older, like 18, 19, 20, & even 21??!! As a victim of a date rape that resulted in a pregnancy at a young age I have walked in these shoes!!! 16 may be young but it is old enough to know right from wrong, and to drown your child in a toilet, then throw it in the trash... By the way, I went full term, my child was adopted by a loving family that couldn't conceive on their own and she is now a happy healthy beautiful young woman!! Who knows that her birth mother loved her enough to give her an opportunity for an awesome life!! "

DUH wrote on Jan 6, 2009 9:04 AM:

" Pinky - you impress me more and more every day. "

Pinky wrote on Jan 6, 2009 11:00 AM:

" Duh are you being sarcastic or serious cuz I can't read tone of voice very well.. though I wish LCC would offer a course in that... Decifering tone of voice in the written word... Kind of catchy title for a course huh? lol "

DUH wrote on Jan 6, 2009 11:17 AM:

" Pinky - I was being totally serious. Whenever I use sarcasm I try to insert (sarcasm) at the end of it. That class you suggest would be nice. I'm sure there would be a lot less arguing in the comments on a lot of these stories. I do commend you on making a very grown up decision at a young age. You had the best interest of your child at heart and that shows a love that most people will never know. "

Pinky wrote on Jan 6, 2009 12:02 PM:

" The best part is that she knows it (my daughter). She knows I love her, and her adopted parents do their part in that so well!! I was blessed to have found them!!! and Thank you "

that's just me wrote on Jan 6, 2009 3:33 PM:

" In response to Beer & Skittles. Do you honestly think that whatever the mother's life was like would make it okay to kill an innocent newborn? There's no excuse! She became a mother the moment she conceived whether it was an unwanted pregnancy or not. Like any mother should (but some obviously don't) if they felt there baby being threatened in any way they would put their baby's life before theirs. I would let someone take my life before my child's. Oh but she was only 16 & had a POS dad so I guess that makes it okay! NOT!!!!!! "

ronin wrote on Jan 6, 2009 5:23 PM:

" It make me a little sad to say that honestly, things like this don't even shock me anymore. "

MrsGP2008 wrote on Jan 8, 2009 10:35 PM:

" I really do believe that we can not judge this young girl. Who is it to say that she did not have the baby in the bathroom in the toilet and the baby drown and she did not know what to do afterward and she just did away with the baby. She is just a child her self that seems as though sh was partly raising herself. God forbid this child having a mind to kill I pray that is not the case. And I also pray that God let what really happen be known. I know the death of the baby is heart breaking and but do we really know what happen to say what should happen to this girl. Just pray for her. May God richly bless each and every one of you. "

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