Crime & Safety

UPDATE: Dead Baby Found at Fire Station, Clearwater Officials Say

The discovery was made Friday morning at Fire Station 49 on Sky Harbor Drive.

CLEARWATER, FL -- Updated, 3:55 p.m.:

An autopsy is still ongoing to determine the infant's cause of death, officials said Friday afternoon. The results would not be immediately available.

Clearwater Police detectives were reviewing area surveillance video to determine if there are any leads on who may have left the baby at the fire station.

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Officials said they believe the child was less than a day old.

Anyone with information about the case or who knows of a woman "who was recently pregnant and is no longer pregnant and is now without a child" is asked to contact police at 727-562-4200 or the Tip Line at 727-562-4422. Anonymous tips can also be sent by text message to 847411 (tip411) or submitted through the department's website, clearwaterpolice.org, or Facebook page.

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Updated, 10:17 a.m.:

Investigators say they don't know when the baby girl was left at the front door of Fire Station 49, or if it was already alive or dead at that time.

Firefighters discovered the baby around 7:20 a.m. when they opened the front door to go out and get the paper. The newborn still had her umbilical cord attached and was wrapped in a towel, public safety spokesperson Elizabeth Watts said.

There were "no outward signs of homicidal violence," Watts said. An autopsy is scheduled for 11:30 a.m.

Under the Florida Safe Haven law, a person can bring a baby, 7 days old or
younger, to a fire station or other designated Safe Haven location and turn it
over to an employee.  "In this case, that did not happen," Watts said in a media release. "Firefighters were never alerted that the child was being left."

The investigation is ongoing.

 

Earlier:

Clearwater firefighters made a gruesome discovery Friday morning, officials say — a dead baby girl at the front door of their fire station.

The infant was already dead when firefighters found it around 7:20 Friday morning at Fire Station 49 at 565 Sky Harbor Dr., public safety spokesperson Elizabeth Watts said.

Officials don't know who left the baby or when, Watts said.

Clearwater Police are on the scene conducting a death investigation. No further details were immediately available.

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