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Mother charged in death of newborn

Authorities found the full-term infant in the bedroom dresser of a Largo woman's home.

By ANNE LINDBERG
Published September 9, 2006

LARGO — Police charged a Largo woman with second-degree murder after they discovered the body of her newborn baby hidden in a dresser.

Robin Farley, 32, of 368 Fifth St. NW, was taken to the Pinellas County Jail on Saturday after being released from a local hospital, according to Sgt. Ed Sohoski of the Largo Police Department investigations division.

Sohoski said police received a call a little after 10 p.m. Friday from an unidentified woman who said a friend had just given birth and needed medical help because she was bleeding badly. The woman did not give the exact street address but described the house.

Paramedics arrived at the house first and spoke with a woman who was later discovered to be the mother. The woman cracked open the door and assured paramedics she had not been pregnant and had not given birth.

Police later went back to the house and a man answered. Officers asked to speak with the woman and, this time the door opened enough that they could see she had been bleeding. The police called the paramedics and searched the house, Sohoski said.

They found a baby “concealed in a bedroom dresser cabinet,” he said.

Farley was taken to the hospital and, Saturday morning, officers determined that the child was full-term and had been born alive.

Farley was charged with second-degree murder, Sohoski said, because she had taken no steps to save the child, such as calling for help. Additionally, she denied to paramedics that she or the child needed help and she hid the body.

A cause of death has not been determined, Sohoski said, and the investigation is continuing.

[Last modified September 9, 2006, 19:38:21]