Editor's Note: A warning that details of this story may be disturbing for some readers.
A Lehigh Valley woman faces murder charges in the death of her newborn son, whose body was found in a paint can in her eastern Pennsylvania home.
Ashley Caraballo, 30, of Allentown is charged with criminal homicide, concealing the death of a child and abuse of a corpse.
District Attorney Jim Martin said Wednesday that Caraballo's partner took her to St. Luke's University hospital in October 2017 for treatment for heavy bleeding. Doctors then found evidence that she had recently given birth, although she denied having done so, Martin said.
An OB/GYN found cervical injuries and evidence of an uncut portion of an umbilical cord attached to placental tissue that were consistent to what the doctor said was the baby being "ripped out" when the cervix wasn't fully dilated, Martin said in a news release.
Police later found a deceased baby boy wrapped in a sheet inside a backpack within a five-gallon paint can in the basement. Two forensic pathologists concluded that the baby died after being born alive. One ruled the manner of death as homicide.
“This case presented complex medical issues which had to be thoroughly investigated in order to determine whether Ms. Caraballo could be charged with murder,” Martin said.
Local
Breaking news and the stories that matter to your neighborhood.
Caraballo is jailed without bail. Her attorney didn't immediately return a call seeking comment.
Her partner has not been charged and there is no evidence he was involved in the baby’s death, which occurred in the North Whitehall Township home Caraballo and her partner shared with their five children.
