River Searched After Woman Claimed She Threw Her Newborn In

[Mystica43229]

(CNN) -- Authorities were searching the Delaware River Tuesday after a woman told nurses that she threw her newborn baby and two other children from a bridge into the water, the U.S. Coast Guard said.

A nurse at St. Joseph's Hospital in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, called the Coast Guard just before 4 a.m. to say a woman told her she had given birth at about 3:35 a.m. and threw her baby into the river, a statement from the U.S. Coast Guard said.

The woman told another nurse that she threw her 2-year-old and 4-year-old children from a bridge into the water, the statement said.

The Coast Guard and several other agencies were searching the Delaware River near the Benjamin Franklin Bridge, which connects Camden, New Jersey, and Philadelphia.
The Coast Guard said law enforcement authorities are looking for the woman, who left the hospital.

http://www.cnn.com/2010/CRIME/08/10/...dge/index.html

[Jessiesgirl1108]

Hopefully she was high on drugs and making the story up...I sure don't want to think of those babies being thrown in that river for real

A woman called a hospital Tuesday and told a drug counselor she had thrown her newborn and two young children off a bridge because she could not feed them, setting off a search of the Delaware River by officials who didn't know if she was telling the truth.

Authorities were trying to locate the woman, Michelle Perez, of Camden, N.J., and the Coast Guard said it was taking her report seriously but had know way of knowing if it was legitimate.

The helicopter and boat search began shortly after authorities got a call around 4 a.m. from a nurse at St. Joseph's Hospital in Philadelphia.

A woman had called the hospital and said she was in Camden, N.J., had just given birth and had thrown her newborn baby into the river from the Ben Franklin Bridge, the Coast Guard said. The woman called back a second time and told another nurse she had also thrown her 4-year-old and 2-year-old children off the bridge because she couldn't feed them, Coast Guard Petty Officer Michael Blake said.

Police in Camden were unable to find Perez, Blake said.

The Delaware River Port Authority, which owns and operates the suspension bridge, said its security cameras didn't capture any images of a woman throwing anything off the span. It also noted that the bridge's pedestrian walkways are locked at night.

Peggy Boemmel, chief financial officer at St. Joseph's Hospital in North Philadelphia, said an alcohol and drug counselor received the call around 4 a.m. and kept her on the phone for a couple of hours while alerting another employee to call 911.

Boemmel was trying to determine if the woman had ever been a patient there.

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/...mIrWgD9HGMH1O3

She was crying while walking down Broadway in Camden at the time of the call, according to the statement.
...
The bridge, however, might not have been involved at all, said Ed Kasuba, spokesman for the Delaware River Port Authority. The gates to the bridge's walkways were locked at that hour, no witnesses are known, the bridge's cameras showed no incident, and the woman allegedly also mentioned walking to the river from Camden's bus and High Speed Line complex, the Rand Transportation Center, he said.

http://www.philly.com/philly/news/br...ff_bridge.html

[Tundratot]

She sounds crazy, too. When they find her, I bet they'll find she did no such thing. She probably doesn't have children and hasn't given birth recently, but they should give her an exam to see. Meanwhile, I guess there's nothing to do but look for bodies in the water.

[ImmortalOne]

Perhaps she got the bridge mixed up or is reliving something from her past.

[momof3]

She sounds crazy, too. When they find her, I bet they'll find she did no such thing. She probably doesn't have children and hasn't given birth recently, but they should give her an exam to see. Meanwhile, I guess there's nothing to do but look for bodies in the water.

That is exactly what I was thinking! Surely the authorities would have examined this woman to see if she had recently or ever given birth before throwing countless man hours and money searching for something that may never have been there to begin with. If she does have 3 children I hope we hear an update soon about how the father or family member of the children has custody and they are safe and sound.

[momof3]

The only update I could find is that they called off the search, doesn't say why. And about my previous post; I guess they aren't even able to locate this woman who made the claims.

http://www.delcotimes.com/articles/2...5311143887.txt

[Tundratot]

That's probably the last we'll hear of it, then.