TULLYTOWN, PA, July 23, 2013 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Police have charged a Pennsylvania woman with two misdemeanor charges after she wrapped the body of her newborn son in a trash bag and left it inside a trash can in her parents' home for four days.
Officials say Lorie Bendorovich gave birth to a stillborn baby boy in her bedroom last Monday, July 15. She tapped the baby's feet, found him unresponsive, and wrapped his body in a trash bag, which she tied into a knot.
She made no effort to save the child's life, officials state.
Benderovich admits she left the body inside a trash can in her parents' Tullytown home, where she lives with her son and a niece. At 11 o'clock Thursday morning, one of the niece's friends reported finding the body to local police.
A detective felt the boy's tiny fingers or toes through the trash bag when he discovered it at the scene.
Authorities charged Benderovich with concealing the death of an infant and abuse of a corpse.
Police say the 38-year-old told them she did not know she was pregnant until she went into labor, but Facebook postings and the child's father tell a different story.
The father says he learned of her pregnancy last November and offered to raise the child, but she told him their baby had been “terminated.”
Click “like” if you want to end abortion!
“She told no one of the birth and death of the child including family, friends, medical personnel or law enforcement,” according to court documents filed in the case.
District Attorney David Heckler confirmed the baby “was indeed stillborn” after an autopsy found the baby's lungs were still filled with embryonic fluid.
He said he found no evidence of a self-abortion. Final tests on the baby's health at birth will not be completed for several months.
Bristol Township District Judge Robert Wagner released Benderovich on a $500,00 bond, with the stipulation that she must remain in her parents' home and seek counseling immediately.
If convicted of both misdemeanors, she could face a maximum of seven years in prison.