RANCHO PENASQUITOS – A 36-year-old woman was arrested Wednesday on suspicion of killing her newborn son and hiding his body at the home where she and her children were staying, San Diego police said.
Julie Reynolds, from Colorado, is believed to have killed the infant on Sunday after giving birth that day or the day before, acting homicide Lt. William Stetson said.
“We believe he was born in the home and she tried to hide the body,” Stetson said. “It was very disturbing. It was fairly apparent that something had gone badly wrong in the house.”
Stetson would not discuss how the baby died. An autopsy is pending.
“There were some obviously suspicious circumstances,” Stetson said. “We're not sure what possessed her to take this kind of action. It doesn't appear that she took care of the baby.”
Reynolds brought her five children, ages 18 months to 15, to her sister's house on Polanca Street in March, Stetson said. He said Reynolds, who is not married, was living there with her sister, brother-in-law and their children.
“They were fairly confident she (Reynolds) was pregnant,” Stetson said, adding that the sister and her husband had nothing to do with the infant's death.
He said someone he would not identify called police at 11:10 a.m. Wednesday and said officers might find a newborn's body at the house. Reynolds reportedly took officers to a downstairs bedroom, where the infant's body lay. Stetson said he believed the baby was naked.
“She was distraught,” Stetson said of Reynolds. “Evidence and her statements led us to believe she was responsible for the death of the child.”
Reynolds was questioned at headquarters and later booked into jail. Her children were taken to county-run Polinsky Children's Center.
Bookmarks