No Death Penalty In Pompano Beach Baby Dumping

Grand Jurors Indict Mom Who Dumped Baby In A Trash Chute

(CBS4) POMPANO BEACH The Iowa woman indicted Thursday for allegedly dumping her newborn baby down the trash chute of a Pompano Beach hotel will face arraignment in the next few weeks, but she will not face the death penalty if convicted.

A grand jury indicted 18-year-old Ashely Truitt Thursday for first-degree murder.

Prosecutors say Truitt, who was visiting South Florida from Solon, Iowa, hid her pregnancy from her parents and boyfriend. They were staying at the hotel when authorities found a bloody knife in the hallway and the newborn's body in a trash bin in early June.

Truitt said she gave birth in the bathroom, using a kitchen knife to cut the umbilical cord. She then put the baby in a plastic bag with some bath towels and threw it down the trash chute. Truitt told investigators the baby was breathing and crying upon birth.

An autopsy found the newborn died from blunt trauma to the head.

Truitt is being held without bond at the Broward County Jail. The state attorney's office says it doesn't plan to seek the death penalty.


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