33-year-old woman arrested after newborn baby dies, abandoned in Longueuil bus shelter

Longueuil police (SPAL) say a newborn baby, less than four weeks old, has died after it was found in a bus shelter Monday morning, on Montreal’s South Shore. Just after 12 p.m., a 33-year-old woman was arrested and police say she could face a charge of infanticide – but would not confirm if the woman is the child’s mother.

Police say a 911 call was made at around 6:30 a.m. to report the presence a baby in a bus shelter on Chambly Road, near Briggs Street. Authorities don’t know how long the baby was at the bus stop before the report came in.

Emergency medical assistance — including resuscitation efforts — was immediately provided to the newborn onsite, the SPAL said. In an update around 8:20 a.m., the SPAL confirmed the baby’s death.

“We could tell that the baby was in bad condition, so we practiced CPR on the newborn,” SPAL spokesperson Jacqueline Pierre told CityNews. “And after a few seconds, minutes, maybe, they brought the kid to the hospital, where a few minutes later it has been declared dead, unfortunately.”

Police say they are not looking for another person involved in this case. The woman was taken into custody just before 12:15 p.m. Officers located her; she did not turn herself in. She will be met by investigators and it’s unclear if she is physically and mentally fit to be in court, according to Pierre.

Investigators were on the scene Monday to gather information and they say they have many hypotheses, including if the woman gave birth in the bus shelter — but add it could take time, weeks, to understand fully what happened.

“Especially with the fact that here on Chemin Chambly, there’s a lot of stores, restaurants, bars,” she said. “So we’re going to have, especially, hopefully, cameras that’s going to help us find out what time the baby was left there, what time the person left the baby there.”

She’s also calling on witnesses to come forward.

Marilyn Ahun, professor of public health at McGill University, said there’s very little research on why cases like this happen, in part because child abandonment itself remains extremely rare.

However, what experts do know often points to mothers with concealed pregnancies, who may feel unable to care for their child.

“Maybe the woman was assaulted or raped and the pregnancy was a result of that,” Ahun said. “So they didn’t want their family to know that they were pregnant with people in their lives. And so they hid the pregnancy.”

She also said cases of child abandonment are often linked to broader social factors like poverty, isolation and mental health issues.

“We can think that by addressing these broader societal issues, we can potentially decrease rates of child abandonment,” Ahun said.

The SPAL says people should avoid the area, and that Briggs Street eastbound and Chambly Road northbound will be closed to all traffic. Some store owners in the area are also being asked to keep their businesses closed.

“We have a crime scene, at a certain point we need to make sure to preserve the most (evidence) or anything that could help us in the investigation,” Pierre explained. “So if some stores or some places are open, they might affect the contamination of the scene. So that’s the reason why we just make sure that some stores are closed right now.

“We cannot take any details for granted.”

This comes less than a month after a separate incident where the SPAL launched an investigation after a newborn baby boy was found abandoned on the doorstep of a home in the St-Hubert area of Longueuil on the evening of Oct. 5.

Police said Monday there is no apparent link between this new event and the one earlier this month.

Following the release of surveillance footage in that case, the SPAL said it received more than 30 pieces of information, and it’s been reviewing each piece in order to locate the child’s parents.

Pierre acknowledged Monday’s incident could have a traumatic impact on the first responders at the scene.

“We have three psychologists that are working with us specifically that are going to help and support our members,” Pierre said.

“To be there to listen, to make sure they’re OK, to make sure they go home and not be too affected by the event. People think that because we are police officers, we’re like superheroes. We’re not, we’re human beings. So that’s the reason why we’re just giving support.”