Story originally printed in the La Crosse Tribune or online at www.lacrossetribune.com
Published - Saturday, July 19, 2008
Mother, 19, charged with homicide in newborn's death
 Indra Book |
The attorney for a La Crosse teen accused of letting her newborn daughter die last fall challenged whether facts in the case support a first-degree intentional homicide charge.
Public defender Vincent Rust began to argue the homicide charge should be dismissed even before it was read aloud Friday during Indra Book’s initial appearance in La Crosse County Circuit Court.
The complaint states Book, 19, delivered her daughter at home last August but stopped trying to breastfeed the infant despite knowing the baby would not survive without nourishment. She then put the infant’s body in a cooler.
Co-defendant Adam O’Connor, 21, of 813 S. Sixth St., has been accused of putting the cooler with the baby’s remains out with the trash this spring. He is expected to face charges of party to the crime of hiding a corpse and obstructing officers when he appears in court Wednesday.
Rust claimed Friday the complaint against Book is “factually insufficient” and “contradictory.”
But La Crosse County Circuit Judge Scott Horne told Rust he needed to file a written motion to dismiss. When Rust continued to argue, Horne postponed the hearing for two hours.
When the hearing resumed, Horne denied Rust’s request to hear an oral argument to dismiss. If Rust files a written motion, it will be considered during Book’s preliminary hearing at 10:15 a.m. Thursday.
Horne also denied the defense’s request to reduce Book’s bond. She remains in the La Crosse County Jail on a $50,000 cash bond.
Book, of 506 Farnam St., Apt. 1, also is charged with hiding a corpse, a felony punishable by up to five years in prison.
According to the complaint, Book delivered her daughter alone in the bathtub of the Sixth Street apartment Aug. 17, washed the blood down the drain and cut the umbilical cord. She wrapped the infant in a towel and fell asleep on a couch in the garage with the baby for eight hours. The newborn was moving but never cried and took shallow breaths.
Book told authorities she unsuccessfully tried to breastfeed the infant several times. She said she understood the child would die if not fed, according to the complaint.
“She stated that she knew that she was probably not doing enough to care for the baby, but did not know what to do, so she explained that she did nothing, knowing the baby was going to die,” according to the complaint.
Book chose not to go to a hospital because she did not have medical insurance. She told investigators adoption agencies turned her away because there was no record of her pregnancy or prenatal care, according to the complaint.
She discovered the infant had died about eight to 12 hours after waking from her post-birth nap. Book put the body in a white plastic foam cooler and placed the container between two garages, where it was hidden by vegetation, according to the complaint.
O’Connor later admitted he was aware the cooler contained the baby’s remains when he put it in an alley for trash collection in March, the complaint stated. The cooler has not been found.
Book said she did not know she was pregnant until her stomach began growing, according to the complaint. She did not seek prenatal care and concealed her pregnancy by wearing large shirts.
She and her then-boyfriend drove June 11, 2007, to Milwaukee for an abortion, but at five months, her pregnancy was too advanced, the complaint stated. The boyfriend was not the father.
Book told her then-boyfriend she would deliver the child and give it up for adoption. On Aug. 23, 24 or 25, she told the boyfriend the infant had been stillborn and no funeral would be held.
Book did not name her daughter, did not prepare for the birth and, other than attempting to breastfeed, did not seek care or help tend the infant, according to the complaint.
The case was prompted by a July 10 anonymous tip to Crime Stoppers.
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