Thread: Funeral, for abandoned newborn as mother deported

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/l ... ned17.html

Thursday, August 17, 2006 - 12:00 AM

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Funeral, burial planned for abandoned newborn as mother deported


The Associated Press

PASCO — A funeral and burial are planned next week for a newborn baby that was found dead in a garbage bin five months ago, while the mother has returned to Mexico rather than face deportation.

Judi Nelson of West Richland, who has been agitating for a proper burial of Baby Ortiz-Espaa in the absence of family, said she learned Tuesday that the tiny girl's body had been released by the Franklin County prosecutor's and coroner's offices.

The baby, whose death is the subject of a coroner's inquest, is an "innocent little being that deserves to be honored," Nelson said. "My concern was this baby being kept in a refrigeration unit all this time was just distressing to me, and I wanted to see her little body laid to rest."

The body has been turned over to Hillcrest Memorial Center in Kennewick for a funeral Aug. 26, followed by burial at Riverview Heights Cemetery. Hillcrest is providing services at no cost, and a number of people have made donations, including baby clothes, a headstone, a casket and a burial plot, funeral director J. Blaze Titus said.

"I'm in hopes that this community would wrap this child in a blanket of compassion by either attending her funeral or sending flowers or, perhaps, doing something special for another child in this baby's memory," Nelson said.

Meanwhile, authorities said it will be at least another month before a coroner's inquest is held to determine whether the actions of the mother, Virginia Ortiz-Espaa, 26, were reckless or criminal.

Ortiz-Espaa has told the Tri-City Herald she came to Mesa from Oaxaca, Mexico, in February to pick crops and hadn't known she was pregnant.

She said she awakened early March 19 in tears from back pain and started bleeding, went out the back door of her trailer and gave birth, then she threw her baby into a trash bin because it was stillborn.

She was arrested and the body was recovered after relatives took her to a hospital for treatment.

Ortiz-Espaa was later taken into federal custody as an undocumented immigrant, and in April she was allowed to return voluntarily to Mexico in lieu of deportation.

An initial autopsy found the girl had been born two months premature but did not establish whether she was born alive or dead.

After a review of those findings, Jeffrey Reynolds of Yakima, a forensic pathologist, concluded the baby had been born alive and Coroner Dan R. Blasdel ruled the death a homicide, asserting that the baby died of neglect because her mother didn't seek medical attention.

Prosecutor Steve M. Lowe ordered the inquest to try to resolve the conflicting opinions.


Copyright © 2006 The Seattle Times Company

Now if that had been a citizen.......

She should have been given some hard time then deported! I'm sure she'll be back in the US before too long trying to drop another anchor babe.