Mother Charged With Murder for Cutting her Baby’s Umbilical Cord

Amanda Meade (Big Sandy Regional Detention Center)

A Kentucky grand jury indicted 34-year-old Amanda Meade last week, accusing the mother of murdering her newborn daughter by cutting the girl’s umbilical cord.

Meade gave birth to her child by herself on Oct. 15 last year inside her grandmother’s Johnson County home that had no electricity or running water, the Lexington Herald-Ledger reported.

After giving birth, Meade cut the infant’s umbilical cord with a pair of scissors. Deputy Coroner Billy Robinson says the woman called 911 at 3 p.m., about an hour after giving birth, to report that the baby girl stopped breathing, EKB-TV reported.

“They found the baby lying on the couch wrapped up, wasn’t breathing at the time,” Robinson told WYMT.

The emergency medical technicians revived the baby by performing CPR and rushed the girl to Paul B. Hall Regional Medical Center. The girl moved a finger and opened an eye while at the hospital, but died 20 minutes after arrival.

Paul B. Hall Regional Medical Center (Google Maps)

Robinson said the infant died due to loss of blood caused by an improperly clamped umbilical cord. The baby was slightly premature, but fully formed, the coroner told EKB-TV. Authorities are looking into whether drugs played a role in the death, LEX18 reported.

Meade’s neighbors in West Van Lear were shocked to learn about the indictment.

“It was really hard for the community because it always really been a nice community and we have never known of anything like that happening,” neighbor Delores Castle told WSAZ.

Castle said she didn’t even know that Meade was pregnant.

“It’s sad that it didn’t get an opportunity to have a chance at life,” Castle added.

Next-door neighbor Pat Pelphrey said that after Meade moved into her grandmother’s home, cars from outside neighborhood started frequenting the area.

“We were all disturbed about the baby dying and what a sad thing it was,” Pelphrey said. “It’s disturbing that she’s going to have to face that, but she’s been headed that way for a long time.”

Meade was indicted while already being held at the Big Sandy Regional Detention Center on unrelated charges, including possession of methamphetamine, possession of a gun by a convicted felon, driving with a revoked or suspended license, and other traffic violations, according to the jail website.

Big Sandy Regional Detention Center (Google Maps)

The indictment states that Meade treated the child “wantonly with extreme indifference to the value of human life.”

Meade is being held on $50,000 bond with a court date scheduled for later this year. If convicted she could face 20-50 years in prison. The hearing is expected to be set for the summer next year.

From NTD.tv