B.C. mom could face charges after baby found in landfill

VANCOUVER — Police are recommending infanticide charges against a 20-year-old woman accused of throwing her newborn baby boy into a school trash bin, leading to a massive search for the infant's body in a Vancouver-area landfill.

The woman delivered the baby in her boyfriend's bathroom in Richmond, south of Vancouver, while he was asleep, police say.

"She awoke her boyfriend after giving birth and explained she had a miscarriage," RCMP said in a news release. "With the help of her boyfriend, the mother wrapped the baby in a towel, put him in a garbage bag and discarded him in a nearby school dumpster."

Police received a tip and checked the dumpster, but found that the trash can had been emptied and taken to the Burns Bog landfill.

"Richmond RCMP, along with the Lower Mainland Tac Troop which contains a number of police agencies, diligently scoured the landfill for three days," police said. "At times there were upwards of 35 police officers searching for the baby boy."

On Sunday, investigators "were relieved and horrified" to find the baby's remains, said the release.

The infant appeared to be the size of a full-term baby, police said.

The woman has been arrested and released. She faces possible charges of neglect to obtain assistance at child birth, concealing the body of a child, infanticide and indignity to a dead body.

An autopsy will be performed to see if the baby was alive at birth.