A 33-year-old Wausau woman is accused of throwing her newborn baby in the trash. Zoua Yang appeared in Marathon County Circuit Court Tuesday on a felony charge of concealing a child’s death, and misdemeanor bail jumping. Yang was held under a $1,000 cash bond.
Prosecutors said Yang gave birth October 10th in her bathroom. She claimed she didn’t realize she was pregnant, and the infant showed no signs of life after apparently being born two months premature.
Investigators said Yang made no effort to get medical help for the child. She told officers she didn’t have health insurance. A witness said Yang placed in the infant in a plastic bag and tossed the baby in a Dumpster. Officers tried recovering the body from the Marathon County landfill, but couldn’t find it.
Yang could have escaped criminal charges had she known about Wisconsin’s long-running “Safe Haven” law, which lets mothers drop off unwanted infants at hospitals or law enforcement offices within 72 hours of birth with no questions asked. Instead, Yang faces a pre-trial hearing next Monday, and a preliminary hearing on her felony count a week from Wednesday.
WSAU