UPTOWN — A 19-year-old woman is in custody after a newborn baby was beaten and abandoned in front of an apartment building in Uptown, according to the Chicago Tribune.
The woman was arrested at her home in the 800 block of West Eastwood Avenue, but no charges have been filed, according to the Tribune. ABC7 reported that the woman was the child's mother. Chicago Police would not confirm someone was in custody Friday.
Around 11:45 p.m. Wednesday, the newborn was found severely beaten outside the same apartment building the woman lived in. She was taken by police to Weiss Hospital, which is about a block away, but the baby did not survive, police said.
According to ABC 7, there was evidence of "embryonic" fluid nearby. The autopsy later revealed that she had died of "multiple blunt force trauma," considered a homicide, county officials said.
Thursday morning, lights from the high school illuminated the area, as Uptown resident Doug Ballard used police tape to fasten a diaper and stuffed animals to a tree near the scene. Ballard heard about the incident early Thursday and went door-to-door in his building asking for stuffed animals to create the memorial, he said.
"It's just a horrible thing. There's a lot of stuff you see going on and it's just sad," Ballard said.
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