Landfill Search Continues For Baby

By JOE SEELIG | Highlands Today
Published: November 29, 2007

SEBRING - The Highlands County Sheriff's Office resumed its search at the county landfill Thursday morning for a discarded baby.

Investigators were in their third day of searching the landfill for a possible fetus or full-term baby thrown out by a 24-year-old Lake Placid woman after she had it about 1 a.m. Friday in her home.

Sheriff Susan Benton said about 9 a.m. Thursday that deputies were having a briefing on the case and establishing a work order for the day. Fresh cadaver search dogs from other counties are arriving to aid in the search, she said.

By 11:30 a.m. investigators were regrouping and "taking a new approach," Benton said. "They're going to be moving the garbage to a clean area to be going through it by hand."

Benton said at the very least it is a misdemeanor to dispose of human remains in this manner, however it could range from a misdemeanor to a felony, depending on what is found.

Continue to check the Highlands Today web site for updates in this developing story.

Highlands Today reporter Mandy Sheets contributed to this story.