Pathologist: Teen's baby born alive

BAD AXE, Mich. (AP) - A baby who police said had been hidden in the attic of a Huron County home by his teenage mother was born alive and not stillborn as previously believed, a prosecutor said Wednesday, citing a new report from a forensic pathologist.

The report showed the infant was alive for more than an hour and died of pneumonia caused by perinatal neglect, county Prosecutor Timothy Rutkowski said in a news release.

WLEW-AM said an initial examination had determined the baby was stillborn.

The baby boy was found dead the morning of March 27, wrapped in a blanket, more than 17 hours after his birth, the Huron Daily Tribune reported.

"In making this finding, the pathologist used a test where he placed the deceased infant's lungs in water," Rutkowski said in the statement. "According to the test, if the lungs float, the infant had taken a breath and was born alive. If the lungs sink, the infant had never taken a breath and was stillborn. When the forensic pathologist performed this test during the autopsy the lungs sank."

Upon further examination of the infant's lungs under a microscope, a forensic pathologist found fluid in the lungs due to pneumonia, said Rutkowski, who filed a petition of concealing the death of an infant against the baby's 14-year-old mother.

Police have said the Port Hope teenager gave birth sometime around noon on March 26, in the bathroom of a home where she was staying with a family friend.

"Although the investigation further indicates the girl many not have been aware the infant was alive after the birth, the girl is alleged to have told no one, including law enforcement, medical personnel or any other adult, that she had given birth and the location of the infant," Rutkowski said.

No date has been set for the girl to appear in the family division of Huron County Circuit Court.