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- Nov 22, 2008
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This thread is equal parts Horror story and LEO, with a splash of comedy thrown in for its pure weirdness factor.
The facts seemed straightforward enough when the story broke - a young lady giving birth and then smothering and trashing the newborn. Awful, senseless tragedy. But as the story unfolds, the question lies not with whether she killed the baby, but whether was pregnant at all.
Police and volunteers combed the landfill for days and came up empty. Family members and psychologists are saying the pregnancy started as a false alarm. She was so pleased with all the positive attention she got from her family that she went along with the story when she later found she wasn't pregnant after all. She allegedly claimed she had a stillbirth at the hospital, but the story fell apart when the suspect's family contacted the hospital to make funeral arrangements.
The defense points to a negative pregnancy test at a clinic 6 months before her alleged due date. The prosecution had a gynecologist perform an exam that found her body showed signs of recent childbirth. Stranger still, the prosecution is entering tattoos the suspect's sisters got with the baby's name.
I don't think there can be any winners in this - even if she's innocent, Swartout's name will be mud for years to come, and her family is torn apart. All the drama and weirdness takes me back to my days as a news reporter - a story like this would have made my whole year. Whatever the outcome, this will make a hell of a movie some day.
The facts seemed straightforward enough when the story broke - a young lady giving birth and then smothering and trashing the newborn. Awful, senseless tragedy. But as the story unfolds, the question lies not with whether she killed the baby, but whether was pregnant at all.
Police and volunteers combed the landfill for days and came up empty. Family members and psychologists are saying the pregnancy started as a false alarm. She was so pleased with all the positive attention she got from her family that she went along with the story when she later found she wasn't pregnant after all. She allegedly claimed she had a stillbirth at the hospital, but the story fell apart when the suspect's family contacted the hospital to make funeral arrangements.
The defense points to a negative pregnancy test at a clinic 6 months before her alleged due date. The prosecution had a gynecologist perform an exam that found her body showed signs of recent childbirth. Stranger still, the prosecution is entering tattoos the suspect's sisters got with the baby's name.
I don't think there can be any winners in this - even if she's innocent, Swartout's name will be mud for years to come, and her family is torn apart. All the drama and weirdness takes me back to my days as a news reporter - a story like this would have made my whole year. Whatever the outcome, this will make a hell of a movie some day.
