ELLISVILLE, Mo., Feb. 29 (UPI) -- A Missouri woman who had a baby in a laundry room of a home and allegedly abandoned it soon after, was charged with felonies, authorities said.
Kaitlin Norton, 19, of Wildwood, Mo., was charged Tuesday with child abandonment and child endangerment.
Her lawyer said her pregnancy was a secret, unknown to her family and to the baby's father. Alone in the laundry room of her boyfriend's house Feb. 16, she had the baby, then wrapped it in a blanket and left it at the base of a tree down the street.
"She couldn't face the problem up through the moment she delivered the child," attorney Andy Leonard said. "She didn't know what to do."
A passerby spotted the bundle and called Ellisville police and animal control, thinking it was a litter of abandoned puppies, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported.
The baby, a boy, was taken to Mercy Hospital St. Louis in Creve Couer for treatment where it was reported he was not seriously hurt.
The mother checked into a different hospital for postnatal treatment and was questioned by police. She turned herself in to Ellisville police after her release from the hospital, the newspaper reported.
Her lawyer said Norton acted alone and has asked for forgiveness.
"She is particularly sorry that she didn't ask for help from the families involved," he said, adding she is receiving counseling and will continue cooperating with authorities.
