Ireneparalegal
07-20-2008, 01:12 AM
Dead woman presumed mother of Pa. mystery baby
DAN NEPHIN
The Associated Press
PITTSBURGH - A woman whose body was found with her abdomen cut open is presumed to be the mother of a baby that another woman brought to the hospital and falsely claimed to be her own, authorities said Saturday.
Investigators were seeking dental records to identify the body found Friday in the suburban Pittsburgh apartment of Andrea Curry-Demus, Allegheny County Medical Examiner Dr. Karl Williams said Saturday.
The body showed "evidence that there had been a partial evisceration , meaning her abdomen had been opened with a sharp weapon, the uterus had been opened," he said. She had been pregnant and a placenta was been found in the Wilkinsburg apartment.
The woman's body "was in a state of moderate decomposition" and she appeared to have been dead for about two days, Williams said. Her hands and feet were bound with duct tape, and her face was covered with a plastic material that had also been secured with duct tape.
"We found a lot of evidence of a struggle having occurred," Williams said. He said there was evidence of drugs at the scene and investigators will look for their presence in the victim's system.
The cause of death had not been determined, Williams said. Tests were being done to verify that the baby the woman had been carrying was the same newborn that Curry-Demus, 38, brought to a Pittsburgh hospital on Thursday night.
"Circumstances would dictate that it has to be. There can't be too many cases similar to this at the same time," Williams said.
The baby was "apparently doing well" although there had been problems initially with a low heart rate and low temperature associated with blood loss, Williams said. The hospital would not release any information about the child.
Williams and Allegheny County Police Assistant Superintendent James Morton said their priority was to identify the woman. Her fingerprints didn't match any of those in a police database and she had no identifying scars or tattoos, Morton said.
The body was found Friday after reporters called authorities about a foul odor coming from inside Curry-Demus' apartment. Police had been at the building Thursday night, but did not go into that apartment, Wilkinsburg Police Chief Ophelia Coleman said. Instead, a relative of Curry-Demus led them to another apartment, she said.
The mystery began when Curry-Demus showed up at West Penn Hospital in Pittsburgh on Thursday with a newborn that still had the umbilical cord attached, police said. Tests later proved that she was not the mother despite her claims to the contrary, police said.
Curry-Demus told police she miscarried in June and didn't want to upset her own mother by telling her she had lost the baby. She said she befriended a pregnant woman and discussed buying her child when it was born, according to the criminal complaint. Curry-Demus told police she paid a woman named Tina $1,000 for the baby.
Curry-Demus was charged with child endangerment and dealing in infant children. She has been jailed in lieu of $10,000 bond and a psychiatric exam.
Morton said further charges in the case would be filed after the body is identified.
It wasn't clear if Curry-Demus had an attorney. Morton said he did not know, jail officials could not say and a message left Saturday with an attorney who once represented her was not returned.
Ivee Blunt, a neighbor who attended a shower for Curry-Demus, said she wanted her in the delivery room when she delivered. Blunt said Curry-Demus told her on Sunday night that she expected to have the baby the next day, but on Monday said she wasn't ready to give birth.
In 1990, Curry-Demus, then known as Andrea Curry, was accused of stabbing a Wilkinsburg woman in an alleged plot to steal the woman's infant. A day after the stabbing, Curry-Demus snatched a 3-week-old baby girl from Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh. The baby was found unharmed with Curry-Demus at her home the next day.
Curry-Demus pleaded guilty in 1991 to various charges stemming from both incidents and was sentenced to three to 10 years in prison, according to court records. She was paroled in August 1998 and began serving a 10-year probation term.
DAN NEPHIN
The Associated Press
PITTSBURGH - A woman whose body was found with her abdomen cut open is presumed to be the mother of a baby that another woman brought to the hospital and falsely claimed to be her own, authorities said Saturday.
Investigators were seeking dental records to identify the body found Friday in the suburban Pittsburgh apartment of Andrea Curry-Demus, Allegheny County Medical Examiner Dr. Karl Williams said Saturday.
The body showed "evidence that there had been a partial evisceration , meaning her abdomen had been opened with a sharp weapon, the uterus had been opened," he said. She had been pregnant and a placenta was been found in the Wilkinsburg apartment.
The woman's body "was in a state of moderate decomposition" and she appeared to have been dead for about two days, Williams said. Her hands and feet were bound with duct tape, and her face was covered with a plastic material that had also been secured with duct tape.
"We found a lot of evidence of a struggle having occurred," Williams said. He said there was evidence of drugs at the scene and investigators will look for their presence in the victim's system.
The cause of death had not been determined, Williams said. Tests were being done to verify that the baby the woman had been carrying was the same newborn that Curry-Demus, 38, brought to a Pittsburgh hospital on Thursday night.
"Circumstances would dictate that it has to be. There can't be too many cases similar to this at the same time," Williams said.
The baby was "apparently doing well" although there had been problems initially with a low heart rate and low temperature associated with blood loss, Williams said. The hospital would not release any information about the child.
Williams and Allegheny County Police Assistant Superintendent James Morton said their priority was to identify the woman. Her fingerprints didn't match any of those in a police database and she had no identifying scars or tattoos, Morton said.
The body was found Friday after reporters called authorities about a foul odor coming from inside Curry-Demus' apartment. Police had been at the building Thursday night, but did not go into that apartment, Wilkinsburg Police Chief Ophelia Coleman said. Instead, a relative of Curry-Demus led them to another apartment, she said.
The mystery began when Curry-Demus showed up at West Penn Hospital in Pittsburgh on Thursday with a newborn that still had the umbilical cord attached, police said. Tests later proved that she was not the mother despite her claims to the contrary, police said.
Curry-Demus told police she miscarried in June and didn't want to upset her own mother by telling her she had lost the baby. She said she befriended a pregnant woman and discussed buying her child when it was born, according to the criminal complaint. Curry-Demus told police she paid a woman named Tina $1,000 for the baby.
Curry-Demus was charged with child endangerment and dealing in infant children. She has been jailed in lieu of $10,000 bond and a psychiatric exam.
Morton said further charges in the case would be filed after the body is identified.
It wasn't clear if Curry-Demus had an attorney. Morton said he did not know, jail officials could not say and a message left Saturday with an attorney who once represented her was not returned.
Ivee Blunt, a neighbor who attended a shower for Curry-Demus, said she wanted her in the delivery room when she delivered. Blunt said Curry-Demus told her on Sunday night that she expected to have the baby the next day, but on Monday said she wasn't ready to give birth.
In 1990, Curry-Demus, then known as Andrea Curry, was accused of stabbing a Wilkinsburg woman in an alleged plot to steal the woman's infant. A day after the stabbing, Curry-Demus snatched a 3-week-old baby girl from Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh. The baby was found unharmed with Curry-Demus at her home the next day.
Curry-Demus pleaded guilty in 1991 to various charges stemming from both incidents and was sentenced to three to 10 years in prison, according to court records. She was paroled in August 1998 and began serving a 10-year probation term.