Wednesday Andrea Curry-Demus, 38, called medics and was taken by ambulance to a local hospital carrying a newborn wrapped in a towel, complaining that the baby was still dirty from birth. She told the medics that the baby was hers but after tests were done it was determined the baby didn’t belong to her so they notified the police.

After being questioned the woman finally admitted that she had a miscarriage in June and didn’t want her mother to find out fearing it would upset her too much. Detective Rich Grande sad that Curry-Demus told him that she purchased the baby from a woman she befriended that was pregnant named Tina for the price of $1000. Fingerprint testing has ruled out a woman named Tina Carter as being the mother that is one of two other pregnant black women in the area that has been reported as missing.

Authorities have charged Curry-Demus with endangering the welfare of a child, a felony, and dealing in infant children, a misdemeanor. She is being held under a $10,000 bond at the Allegheny County Jail and ordered to have a psychiatric exam. Other charges will be filed once the body of the woman’s identity that was found has been confirmed. Then it can be determined if she was indeed the mother of the newborn.

Reporters trying to get a story went to Curry-Demus’s Pennsylvania apartment and noticed flies and smelled an odor from the sidewalk below so they notified police. Once they entered the apartment they found a body tied up with her uterus cut open. The medical examiner said a placenta was found at the scene. They Allegheny County Medical Examiner’s office told CNN Saturday that the body is that of Kia Johnson but they will determine that for sure using dental records. Johnson is believed to have been 18 years old and was due to deliver her baby on July 30.

The woman’s hands and feet were taped up using duct tape and her face was covered with a plastic material that had been tightened with using the duct tape also. Medical examiner Karl Williams said the body was in a state of moderate decomposition and she had been dead about two days.

“We found a lot of evidence of a struggle having occurred,” said Williams. Drugs were found at the scene so they are waiting on a toxicology report to find out if the woman had been sedated before she was killed. Authorities say it is unclear if the baby was taken before or after the woman died.

A hospital spokeswoman said the baby is in good condition and when ready to be released he will be turned over to child welfare workers.

Jan Barrett

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