A woman by the name of Purvi Patel was recently arrested in connection with the discovery of a dead newborn inside a trash bin behind an Indiana restaurant.
The Indiana Police Department arrested Purvi Patel, 32 of Granger, Monday on a preliminary charge of feticide, which is a Class B felony, according to Metro Homicide Commander Tim Corbett.
According to the St. Joseph County Police Department, Patel was booked into the St. Joseph County Jail pending the filing of previous charges. The incident occurred in July of 2013, according to the South Bend Tribune. Purvi Patel rushed to the nearest hospital because she suffered severe bleeding after prematurely delivering her infant. Purvi Patel explained to hospital employees she assumed the baby was stillborn because it wasn’t breathing.
This led her to place the infant inside a plastic bag and throw the bag in a trash can, according to court papers. Her claims were proven false, after a forensic pathologist ran test and discovered the infant was born alive and breathing normally before it passed away. Police revealed Purvi Patel took drugs she had shipped from Hong Kong in a secretive way to end her pregnancy. Purvi Patel pleaded not guilty to child neglect and her lawyer attempted to get the feticide charge removed, but a judge ruled she will definitely be charged with both.
According to the News-Sentinel, Indiana defines feticide “as knowingly or intentionally terminating a human pregnancy with an intention other than to produce a live birth or to remove a dead fetus.” According to the Daily Beast, Purvi Patel can only be charged with neglect if prosecutors can prove she gave birth to a breathing infant, but since she is being charged with feticide that means the child was technically not born alive. Only one charge will apply if the baby was still alive, and only one charge will apply if the infant was in fact dead.
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