Newborn Baby Found Dead, Buried in Back Yard in Baldwin County

MILLEDGEVILLE, Georgia (41NBC/WMGT) – A newborn baby is found dead in a shallow grave, and now the mother is charged in connection with the baby’s death.

Investigators say they were called out to 298 Lakemere Lane in Baldwin County last Wednesday night around 7 after a man discovered a baby buried in the back yard of his property.

When officers from the Baldwin County Sheriff’s Office and the Georgia Bureau of Investigation arrived on scene, they were shocked at what they found.

“We discovered a full-term baby,” says Baldwin County Sheriff, Bill Massee.  “(It) had been buried in a shallow grave behind a home off of Lakemere.  Through investigation that evening, we arrested 23-year-old Brittany Palmer.  On the evening we discovered the body, we arrested her for false statements.”

A day after the discovery, investigators were able to begin painting a picture through interviews of what might have happened.

“We did determine that Brittany Palmer gave birth to a full-term child in her residence,” says Massee.  “It appears that the child was born in the bathtub in the home, and we’re waiting on official autopsy results, but we do think that the child was born live and possibly drowned.  She (Palmer) is currently charged with concealing a death and (giving) false statements.”

An autopsy was conducted on the child on Friday.

District Attorney for the Ocmulgee Judicial Circuit, Fred Bright, tells 41NBC, “We do not yet have the results of the autopsy, so it is premature to make a decision whether or not to charge the mother with the death of her baby.  We need to find out 1) If the baby was alive or was it a fetus and 2) Cause of death.”

After reviewing the results, Bright will determine whether there is enough evidence to give Palmer more serious charges in the death of her child.

Palmer lived at the home with her parents.  According to Massee, her father discovered the buried child on Wednesday before the child’s father called authorities.