Laura Lynn Hickey, 24, of Centralia, listens as a judge and attorneys discuss her bail as she is charged with decapitating and hiding her premature infant.
This news story was updated at 12:48 p.m. and 3:30 p.m.
By Sharyn L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter
CHEHALIS – Prosecutors say a Centralia woman accused of taking a serrated knife to her newborn after she unexpectedly delivered it into a toilet said it was trying to take a breath, she didn’t think it was going to live and she didn’t want it to suffer.
Laura Lynn Hickey, 24, was charged yesterday with first-degree murder following the premature birth last week that authorities say she tried to hide.
Hickey initially said she had a miscarriage, but then admitted to police she cut off its head and put the infant in a Tupperware container under her kitchen sink, according to charging documents.
The incident came to light when she went to Providence Centralia Hospital and staff questioned her account as the examination suggested she was about 21 weeks along in her pregnancy.
Hickey was taken by ambulance to the emergency room about 1 a.m. on March 2 after neighbors heard her call for help from her home in at the Peppertree Motor Inn and RV Park on Alder Street in Centralia. The hospital called police who found the deceased baby and then impounded Hickey’s fifth-wheel trailer home.
Hickey told detectives she didn’t want anyone to find out about the birth, especially her mother, according to charging documents.
Hickey was brought before a judge yesterday in Lewis County Superior Court.
Newly-elected Prosecutor Jonathan Meyer asked for bail of $1 million.
“I will not go into the horrific details in open court,” Meyer said.
He asked the judge to prohibit Hickey from having contact with children, saying the safety issues are obvious.
Police have said Hickey has three children who were taken away from her by the state about a year ago.
Defense attorney Bob Schroeter said he was concerned about a rush to judgement, and opposed the recommendation.
Schroeter told Judge Richard Brosey his client has almost no criminal history. Her poverty makes her eligible for a court appointed attorney, according to Schroeter.
Hickey sat silently during the proceedings in the Chehalis courtroom, answering only with a yes when the judge asked if Laura Lynn Hickey was her correct name.
A red and white striped jail smock hung on her 5-foot 7-inch frame, cinched at the waist with belly chains. Her ankles were shackled as well.
Brosey agreed with the bail request and appointed Chehalis attorney Ken Johnson to represent Hickey. He said she could have contact with children, but only in the presence of someone aware of the current charge against her.
A woman called out “I love you Laura” when it was over, and about a dozen acquaintances and family members exited the courtroom together.
A small contingent of security and sheriff’s deputies stood by as one of the group had protested news reporters being present.
A pair of Morton women distributed pastel nursery-themed ribbons in support of the baby around the courthouse before and after the hearing.
Jennifer Mau is with Guardians of the Children, an organization she says helps with abused and missing kids.
“I researched it,” Mau said. “And at 21 weeks, a baby is fully developed, except for lung development. It could have lived if it had gone to the hospital.”
Police said Hickey named the infant boy Caleb Jacob Hickey, after she decapitated him.
Meyer is handling the prosecution in the case himself.
Outside the courtroom, he told reporters he thinks the charge is supported by the evidence. He indicated he’s not contemplating seeking the death penalty.
The former defense attorney said he didn’t see any evidence suggesting the defendant’s mental capacity was diminished in any way, but added it would be up to her lawyer to ask for any mental health evaluations.
Schroeter – whose role representing Hickey was only for her first court appearance – called it a complex case with many more aspects than could be squeezed into the four pages of allegations presented by the prosecution.
“I think a major concern in this case is whether or not the fetus was stillborn,” Schroeter said.
While statements Hickey made to doctors and police suggest otherwise, there will be questions if she was suffering from shock or even delusions related to post-partum depression, he said.
“This could very well smack of a person being charged for having a miscarriage,” he said. “That’s my concern here.”
Hickey lived alone, although she has relatives who reside at the Peppertree, according to Centralia Police Officer John Panco.
Panco said he didn’t have any information about the father of the child.
She has misdemeanor convictions for theft, vehicle prowl and trespass, according to Prosecutor Meyer.
Hickey reportedly told police she used methamphetamine two days before the incident and had been awake since then.
About two weeks earlier, she told a nurse she didn’t want the child and intended to abort the pregnancy, according to charging documents.
When police asked if she was willing to provide a taped statement, she reportedly stated she had no problem speaking with law enforcement.
Charging documents offer further details from her interview with detectives, such as:
Hickey told them she had been pregnant for awhile, but wasn’t sure how long.
She said she was having severe cramps, an urge to push and also an urge to use the toilet.
That’s when the baby dropped out.
“Hickey stated that she grabbed the newborn out of the toilet and saw that he was trying to take a breath and heard a gurgling sound,” prosecutors wrote.
She held him close to keep him warm but didn’t think he was going to live and felt she needed to do something so he would not suffer.
She got the kitchen knife and used it, she said.
Hickey said she then cleaned up the baby, put him in the Tupperware container and cleaned up the area.
After she screamed for help, one neighbor told her she was calling 911 because of the blood loss. She said not to, but the neighbor ignored her request.
At the hospital, it was the emergency room doctor who began to doubt her initial story. It was Dr. Hayden who examined her, noted the size of the placenta and estimated the age of the fetus at 21 weeks.
Centralia police previously said it was Hickey herself and the pathologist who performed the autopsy who reported how far along the pregnancy was.
Preliminary findings from the autopsy indicated the fetus was born alive and was viable, according to charging documents.
Police described the newborn as fully formed, with the head detached, but the umbilical cord still attached, when they found it.
The final determination from the Lewis County Coroner’s Office on the cause and manner of death won’t be made until tests come back, which they say can take weeks.
The maximum possible penalty for first-degree murder is life in prison.
Hickey’s opportunity to make her plea in the case comes next Thursday.
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Read “Centralia woman accused of decapitating her newborn” from Wednesday March 9, 2011, here
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