Woman Who Put Her Baby in Freezer and Closed Lid Charged With Child Abuse

Brittany Smith was arrested on child abuse charges after allegedly placing her baby in an unused freezer. (Washington County Sheriff's Office)

A woman who allegedly placed her baby in a freezer and closed the lid has been charged with child abuse.

A witness told police officers that he saw Brittany Smith, 19, placing the baby, an 8-month-old child, into an unused freezer in the backyard of a house that wasn’t hers.

“Oh my God, she’s trying to hide a dead baby on us,” Joshua Blair, the owner of the home, told WCYB of his initial reaction. “It wasn’t moving, wasn’t nothing. I reached in and pulled it out. It started moving. Instant relief.”

Two other witnesses said they saw Smith on the property, according to an affidavit obtained by WJHL. Smith was located under the crawl space of the house without the child.

Witnesses said they found the child in the freezer after lifting up the fridge. The freezer had about an inch of water in the bottom.

Blair said he found the baby and handed it to his mother. He credited his mother and his fiance for spotting Smith and the child.

He said he removed the lid of the unused freezer so nothing like what happened could happen again.

“If they wouldn’t have seen her put the child in there, the baby would have run out of oxygen,” Washington County Sheriff’s Office Maj. Shawn Judy told WCYB.

The officer who wrote the warrant said there was sufficient cause to arrest Smith “for having placed the child inside the deep freezer, which is an act that placed the child in immediate danger of suffocation and/or drowning,” reported the Johnson City Press.

The baby was taken to a hospital for treatment and is now OK. The baby was given over to his grandmother.

Smith is being held on $200,000 bond for charges of child abuse and burglary and was slated to appear in court on Jan. 14 while her preliminary hearing was scheduled for Feb. 14.

Baby Found in Trash, Mother Charged

A 15-year-old girl was charged in the death of a newborn found in the trash, according to officials.

Jani Morris, the teen, was arrested by police after her newborn son was found near trash bags, reported the Philadelphia Inquirer. She was charged with murder, endangering welfare, and related offenses.

Police originally said they had been contacted on New Year’s Eve after a woman told them she discovered a baby inside a dumpster in the Swampoodle section of Philadelphia, according to the report.

The woman and the baby were taken to Temple University Hospital, where the infant was pronounced dead at 10:37 p.m. local time.

Officials believe Morris killed the child and placed it in a dumpster, reported ABC7.

Police said they found the teen and her mother in their nearby home. Officials said they think it’s where the teen gave birth, according to the ABC affiliate report.

Diane Byrd, a local, told the paper that she was walking outside when she spotted a woman looking for help

“She stopped in the street and was saying could someone help her find this baby, her daughter put it in the trash,” Byrd recalled.

The woman, Byrd added, was checking trash bags near the sidewalk. There wasn’t a dumpster, she said, as was originally reported.

When she saw the child, Byrd said, “Jesus, Jesus, Jesus,” she told the paper.

“We don’t know when she did it,” Byrd added. “We don’t know how she did it.”

Epoch Times reporter Jack Phillips contributed to this report.

From NTD News