HENRICO COUNTY, Va. (WTVR) – Henrico Police arrested a mother on charges of attempted murder and felony child neglect after her newborn baby was discovered in a plastic bag inside a clothes dryer.
Henrico Police Capt. Jan Stem told CBS 6 reporter Tracy Sears that Angela Marie Janecka, 39, placed her newborn in the bag shortly after the August 25 birth.
Rescue crews were called to Janecka’s Aloe Court apartment that day after the woman’s husband found the newborn, alive, in the bag inside the dryer, Capt. Stem confirmed.
He said for months Janecka had been telling her husband she believed the child she was carrying was not alive. He said that day she told her husband she had given birth in their apartment, but the baby did not survive and a doctor had taken the child’s body away.
The father discovered the baby in the dryer while cleaning up the area where his wife had given birth, Capt. Stem said.
Once he found the infant, the father called his older son’s doctor – who then contacted the rescue squad. The child was taken to the hospital for treatment.
The child is doing well and now in the care of Child Protective Services, according to an email from Henrico Police Lt. Linda Toney.
Police arrested Janecka on September 4.
This is a developing story.
