Remains of 4 pre-term Md. infants found By KRISTEN WYATT, Associated Press Writer

Remains of 4 pre-term Md. infants found By KRISTEN WYATT, Associated Press Writer
13 minutes ago



OCEAN CITY, Md. - The remains of four pre-term infants found in and around a modest home in this resort town were being examined to see whether the woman charged with murdering one of the babies is the mother of all four.

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The grisly discoveries came to light after Freeman was admitted to a hospital with bleeding last week. Doctors found that she'd recently given birth, but had no baby. An investigation has uncovered four tiny sets of remains.

Bulldozers on Tuesday were to resume digging in a vacant lot next to Freeman's apartment. Ocean City Police Spokesman Barry Neeb said cadaver dogs led police to believe there may be more remains in the yard, but none had been found.

"To this time right now, we have not found any additional remains," Ocean City Police Chief Bernadette DiPino said Monday evening.

Freeman, the mother of four living children, was charged with murder and manslaughter and denied bond Monday. She was being held in the Worcester County jail awaiting an Aug. 27 preliminary hearing.

A search of Freeman's home revealed the first 26-week-old boy. Investigators say the remains were wrapped in a bloodied towel and hidden under a bathroom vanity.

While searching for the boy, authorities also uncovered two more sets of fetal remains, plus some matter that appeared to be a placenta, wrapped in plastic in a trunk in Freeman's bedroom.

Police say Freeman's interview also led them to a Winnebago parked in her yard, where a fourth set of remains was found.

In her bond hearing, Freeman, a taxicab company owner, professed her innocence but did not offer any clues about what happened. "I want to clear my name in this case," she said.

Freeman's longtime boyfriend and the father of their four children, Raymond W. Godman Jr., has not been charged, and their children were in his custody. "At this point, he is not a suspect, but we are not ruling anyone out," DiPino said.

According to prosecutors, Godman said he found his girlfriend bleeding in the bathroom last Thursday. When rescuers arrived, Freeman told them she was not and had not recently been pregnant, according to prosecutors.

Later she told police she had delivered a deformed baby and that she had flushed the remains down the toilet. According to prosecutors, though, the baby was viable, with hands, feet and facial features.

Authorities offered few details to explain why they thought the pre-term infants belonged to Freeman or why they think she murdered at least one. Murder charges were filed before a medical examiner's report was complete.

Prosecutors also would not say how old the other pre-term infants were when they died, although none was thought to be a full-term baby.

"We don't know how much time lapsed between the time they were delivered and the time they were discovered," DiPino said.