Cops: Woman Gave Birth in Amazon Facility, Threw Baby in Trash

Samantha Vivier told police she hadn't known she was pregnant
By Jenn Gidman,  Newser Staff
Posted Jan 23, 2019 12:08 PM CST
Woman Arrested for Abandoning Newborn in Amazon Warehouse
In this Dec. 5, 2017, file photo, an Amazon fulfillment center is shown in North Las Vegas.   (Steve Marcus/Las Vegas Sun via AP, File)

A "terribly sad" discovery in Arizona has led to the arrest of a woman for child abandonment. Samantha Vivier, 22, faces one count of unlawful disposal of human remains after she told police she gave birth in the bathroom of an Amazon warehouse she worked at in Phoenix, the Arizona Republic reports. Per court records, a janitor at the facility came across the body of a newborn girl in a trash can on the evening of Jan. 16, with the infant "cold to the touch" and "unresponsive." One of Vivier's co-workers told investigators called to the scene that Vivier had earlier said she'd been ill in the restroom and needed to go home to get new pants, per the records—and when contacted by investigators, they say she admitted to giving birth in the restroom.

Vivier told cops in an interview Tuesday that she hadn't known she was pregnant and that she "panicked" when the baby was born while she was at work, the records note; she added she was "confident" the baby was born dead and that she didn't want the baby's father to find out, so she placed the newborn in the trash. Prosecutors think the baby, which first responders told cops appeared to be full term, was stillborn, per CBS 5. The records note Vivier didn't try to seek help or render aid to the baby herself. "This is a terribly sad and tragic incident and we're providing on-site counseling support as needed as the safety and wellness of our team continues to be our top priority," Amazon says in a statement. (A similar, sad story, but with a happier ending for the baby here.)

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