135 stab wounds

[Justin24]

http://www.kstp.com/article/stories/S53980.shtml?cat=1

Bail set at $1 million for teen accused of baby murder

A 17-year-old stabbed her newborn baby 135 times and disposed of her body in a garbage can outside her home in Oakdale, authorities alleged Thursday.

Nicole Marie Beecroft was charged Thursday with first-degree murder. The charge carries a maximum sentence of life in prison. She was being held in a juvenile detention facility. Bail was set at $1 million on Friday afternoon.

"She kills the baby and now her life will be changed forever," Washington County Attorney Doug Johnson said.

The Tartan High School senior told police she was in a "panic state" after giving birth to the girl on the floor of the laundry room in her home around 3 a.m. Monday, according to the criminal complaint filed in Washington County District Court. She told police she had seen the baby's finger move, and admitted stabbing the child, the complaint said.

An autopsy determined the infant had been born alive, but suffered numerous puncture wounds in the chest area and bled to death from 135 sharp-force injuries, the complaint said.

"We don't know what motivated her," Johnson said.

Johnson noted that the state's safe harbor law allows mothers to leave infants at any hospital within 72 hours of birth with no legal consequences.

"She could have walked away and the baby would have been adopted by a family that wanted it. Instead she destroys two lives: her own and the baby's," he said.

Police said the baby's body was inside a trash bag that had been placed in the garbage can outside Beecroft's suburban home. Inside the trash bag, investigators also found a black-handled knife and some towels, according to the complaint.

Authorities were tipped off Tuesday when an anonymous caller told police that a cashier at a Cub Foods grocery store in St. Paul had given birth to a stillborn baby and threw it in the garbage at her home. The store manager confirmed Beecroft was an employee there, but said she had called in sick the past two days. Police went to her home. Her mother told officers her daughter had been sick in bed the past two days, but had gone to work that day, according to the complaint.

Beecroft's mother, Kari Beecroft, allowed the officers to look in her daughter's room, where they found a bag containing adult diapers. The mother told police her daughter had been using them because she had been experiencing a very heavy period, the complaint said. The officers found a blood-soaked sanitary napkin or diaper in the bathroom garbage can.

While police secured the scene Tuesday night, other officers found Nicole Beecroft at the store where she worked. They took her back to the Oakdale Police Department, where she acknowledged she had given birth the day before. She said she had gone to the bathroom, but something didn't feel right, so she went to the laundry room and put a towel on the floor, and gave birth there. She initially claimed the girl was stillborn, and admitted discarding the child in the garbage can, the complaint said.

Police then got a search warrant, and recovered the body from the garbage can early Wednesday. Beecroft confessed when officers later confronted her at a hospital, the complaint said.

The girl's mother told police she didn't know her overweight daughter was pregnant.

The Beecroft family does not have a listed phone number.

An attorney will be appointed for her and bail will be set at her first court appearance Friday, Johnson said.

Johnson said Beecroft has told police the name of the person she believes is the father.

Oakdale police officer Michelle Stark said no one else was expected to be charged in the baby's death.

"Some early intervention possibly could have helped," Stark said.


The Associated Press contributed to this report.

 

[onebloodonelife]

This happened not far from where I'm from...apparently when the baby moved, she freaked out, and stabbed the child. It's an awful story.

 

[JCOSTER]

OMG so, so sad, how that little baby suffered.

 

[U2democrat]

Disgusting.

 

[U2Girl1978]

Absolutely disgusting. There are safe haven laws and it has been repeatedly stated. Why couldn't she have brought the baby to the police station to someone? WTF! I'm so fed up with the excuses these people make.

 

[dazzlingamy]

foul foul foul! Poor little thing!

What is fucking WRONG with people?! I panic,sometimes but don't end up stabbing the closest person 135 times.

I hope she goes to jail for a long time, no excuses.

 

[onebloodonelife]

Absolutely disgusting. There are safe haven laws and it has been repeatedly stated. Why couldn't she have brought the baby to the police station to someone? WTF! I'm so fed up with the excuses these people make.

I'm not defending her, but a lot of teens don't know about the safe haven laws. I do, but I'm not sure why others don't. I would think it should be talked about in health/sex ed class, but I don't think that would fit in with the abstinence only classes a lot of schools have. Again, I'm not defending her, she should go to jail because what she did is horrific.

 

[yolland]

Most likely the girl was mentally unbalanced at that point from being afraid to tell anyone for 9 months, not to mention going through labor in secret at home...if she'd even allowed herself to consciously recognize she was pregnant.

 

[U2Girl1978]

I'm not defending her, but a lot of teens don't know about the safe haven laws. I do, but I'm not sure why others don't. I would think it should be talked about in health/sex ed class, but I don't think that would fit in with the abstinence only classes a lot of schools have. Again, I'm not defending her, she should go to jail because what she did is horrific.

How can they not know? It's been said so many times. In the area I work in there's a big yellow sign up regarding Safe Haven Laws. You can't miss it. Maybe they need to start doing that everywhere.

 

[Ormus]

How can they not know? It's been said so many times. In the area I work in there's a big yellow sign up regarding Safe Haven Laws. You can't miss it. Maybe they need to start doing that everywhere.

Ask every American and probably 25% wouldn't know the name of the President.

Trying to communicate a message to everyone will probably be impossible.

 

[onebloodonelife]

How can they not know? It's been said so many times. In the area I work in there's a big yellow sign up regarding Safe Haven Laws. You can't miss it. Maybe they need to start doing that everywhere.

You're right, there should be more advertising about Safe Haven Laws, but there definitely aren't any signs around here...and I'm about 2 hours away from where this girl lives. The only time I hear about the laws are when something like this happens, so the news covers Safe Haven Laws for a couple days. Let's be honest though, how many teens are watching the news?



Disclaimer: I am 17, and a teen, and I can vouch for the fact that about 5 people in my class consistently watch the news.

 

[verte76]

How disgusting can you get? How can she do that to that poor baby?

 

[anitram]

The whole story is a tragedy, really. How does somebody that age get to the point where they don't tell anyone, what was her mental state? Horrible all around.

And I don't think safe haven laws are something that is customarily known about. In fact I'd say relatively few people are familiar. I don't think it would be reasonably expected of her to have known, as far as a court's concerned.

 

[U2Girl1978]

You're right, there should be more advertising about Safe Haven Laws, but there definitely aren't any signs around here...and I'm about 2 hours away from where this girl lives. The only time I hear about the laws are when something like this happens, so the news covers Safe Haven Laws for a couple days. Let's be honest though, how many teens are watching the news?



Disclaimer: I am 17, and a teen, and I can vouch for the fact that about 5 people in my class consistently watch the news.

I think teens need to be educated in their sex ed classes. That's if they still have them. It's really important to know that there is help available.

 

[doctorwho]

I'm not defending her, but a lot of teens don't know about the safe haven laws. I do, but I'm not sure why others don't. I would think it should be talked about in health/sex ed class, but I don't think that would fit in with the abstinence only classes a lot of schools have. Again, I'm not defending her, she should go to jail because what she did is horrific.

Apparently this young lady didn't even know about safe sex, let alone safe haven laws!

There appears to have been a huge breakdown in every aspect of this woman's life. Clearly her obesity was a major issue - so major it even tricked her own mother into thinking she wasn't pregnant. Her inability to seek proper medical help at the appropriate time is another breakdown.

This poor teen did a horrendous act and she should pay. But I can't help but wonder what her life was like that she'd be driven to do such a thing. Clearly she was deeply troubled.

 

[onebloodonelife]

I think teens need to be educated in their sex ed classes. That's if they still have them. It's really important to know that there is help available.

Definitely. I'm not sure what grade she's in, but if she's a senior in high school, in Minnesota, she falls in an odd year in regards to class requirements. I'm a senior in MN this year, and I never had to take health, which would be the sex ed class in my school. What happened was that the MN standards went through an overhaul, and my year and the year before me ended up needing far fewer requirements to graduate than the years below us. Everyone else has to take health, gym, etc. We did not. Of course, she could have taken health/sex ed...I don't know.

 

[maycocksean]

Can anyone else here predict what someone, sooner or later, is going to ask on this thread?

I bet I can. . .

 

[dazzlingamy]

go on then!

 

[maycocksean]

No way! It's not going to be me!

 

[CTU2fan]

Well there's this one:

"Do you think she should get the DP?" (even though I'm not sure they have it in MN, especially for a minor)

Or this:

"Would people be empathizing to this degree if it were a man who stabbed a baby?"

But I'm guessing you meant this:

"Why is this so horrible, but abortion is OK?"


Clearly this girl was in a less-than-stable mental state at the time. While I agree safe haven laws need to be more well-publicized (sex ed is a good place to start), I'm not sure it would have mattered in this case. If someone's thinking clearly enough to take advantage of a safe haven law then I'd assume they're rational enough to realize that, safe haven or not, stabbing your newborn baby isn't the answer. There's just not an easy answer here, only a tragedy. Living with this will be a far worse punishment than any prison sentence

(Oh & my answers to the above would be no, no, apples & oranges, BTW)

 

[BonosSaint]

Can anyone else here predict what someone, sooner or later, is going to ask on this thread?

I bet I can. . .

Please, no.

 

[onebloodonelife]

Well there's this one:

"Do you think she should get the DP?" (even though I'm not sure they have it in MN, especially for a minor)

No death penalty in MN, so that's out the window for punishment. Our current governor, Pawlenty, supports it, but if it were to be approved through amendment, DNA evidence would have to link the defendant to the crime for DP to be an option in sentencing.

 

[flybabe]

that Bitch should stay in jail for the rest of her f****ing life

 

[Angela Harlem]

wow.

 

[nathan1977]

Ask every American and probably 25% wouldn't know the name of the President.

Trying to communicate a message to everyone will probably be impossible.

Does the message "DON'T STAB A BABY 135 TIMES" really need to be said?

Sorry, I'm not in the habit of letting people who do such a thing off the hook.

 

[onebloodonelife]

that Bitch should stay in jail for the rest of her f****ing life

whoa

 

[sue4u2]

that Bitch should stay in jail for the rest of her f****ing life

well that should change things...
somehow

 

[indra]

Does the message "DON'T STAB A BABY 135 TIMES" really need to be said?

Sorry, I'm not in the habit of letting people who do such a thing off the hook.

How many rational people do you know would stab anyone 135 times? This wasn't a premeditated thing, it's a completely unreasonable, waaaay over the top reaction. She won't be let off the hook -- unless you think of anything but the death penalty or life in prison is "off the hook" -- but she shouldn't be treated as if what she did was a rational decision.

 

[BVS]

Does the message "DON'T STAB A BABY 135 TIMES" really need to be said?

Sorry, I'm not in the habit of letting people who do such a thing off the hook.

What does that have to do with Ormus' post? Did you even read the context which his post was made?

 

[sue4u2]

well that should change things...
somehow

Edited to say: I do understand this type of kneejerk reaction if thats what it is.
But there is always something more "to the story" than we are told about..
In the long run this woman's story will never be as sad and tragic as what she did to this poor child.

(oops didn't mean to quote myself