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25th May 2022

Mum put newborn in trash bag and threw him from balcony hours after birth

Charlie Herbert

Woman puts newborn in trash bag and throws off balcony

She has been charged with murder

A mother has admitted to killing her newborn son by putting him in a trash bag and throwing the baby off a second storey balcony.

Amber Bowling pleaded guilty to the murder of the infant in court on Monday, LEX 18 reports.

She was 21 when she gave birth to her son in December 2018. But just hours after giving birth in Manchester, Kentucky, she placed her newborn into a trash bag and preceded to throw the bag from the second storey of her apartment complex.

The baby’s remains were found by neighbour Paul Herd when he got back from work, when he noticed the bag by the stairs to his flat. He took the child in and called police, but the baby died shortly afterwards.

“I couldn’t sleep at night knowing, just seeing what he’s seen, over and over in your mind again,” Herd’s son Tyler said.

Bowling had initially pleaded not guilty when she appeared in court back in 2018.

A judge declared Bowling competent to stand trial in August 2019, according to the Clay County Circuit Clerk.

The coroner said that an autopsy showed the baby died from injuries related to blunt-force trauma. According to Bowling’s arrest citation, the infant suffered a bleed to the brain, a cranial fracture, and fractured ribs.

Clay County Sheriff Angie Johnson said: “Why didn’t she take that child to the hospital and say, ‘I can’t raise it?'”

Bowling was charged with one count of murder at the trial on Monday, with a sentencing date set for June 27.

She faces a recommended punishment of 40 years in jail.

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