An investigation into a stillborn baby that was found last month in west Evanston has revealed no wrongdoing, police said.
Though an autopsy by the Cook County Medical Examiners Office ruled out foul play, the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services is still investigating the incident.
The birth occurred on Sept. 23. On that morning, a 15-year-old girl, a resident of the 2200 block of Crain Street, told her mother that she was feeling ill. The mother told her daughter she could stay home from school while the mother went to work, said Deputy Chief Joseph Bellino of Evanston Police Department.
The girl then delivered the stillborn baby, wrapped it and placed it in a trash can. She called her mother, who returned home and called 911, Bellino said.
“By her account, she didn’t even realize, nor did her parents realize, that she was pregnant,” Bellino said. “What she thought were cramps was actually the onset of her labor.”
The girl cooperated with the police and told them where she placed the baby, which was nicknamed Baby Avery. Both the teen and the newborn baby were taken to St. Francis Hospital, 355 Ridge Ave.
The baby was pronounced dead at 9:42 a.m. in the emergency room while the girl spent several days in the hospital, police said.
Baby Avery died due to intrauterine asphyxia, a spokeswoman for the medical examiner said.
“The baby wasn’t breathing in the womb,” the spokeswoman said. “There’s nothing you or us can do about it.”
The discovery of the baby in a trash can prompted the Department of Children and Family Services to investigate whether it was a “death by abuse.”
“Our department is still in the process of looking at that case,” Department of Children and Family Services spokeswoman Diane Jackson said Tuesday. “Investigations typically take 60 days.”
The Evanston Police Department shared the results of its investigation with the Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office, which decided not to file charges, Bellino said.
“The whole thing was an unfortunate situation and tragic on a lot of different levels, but it’s not one that is being brought into court,” Bellino said.
– GREG HAFKIN
