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A Pennsylvania couple who allegedly hid their infant’s body inside a wall of their home have been arrested and charged with multiple crimes, including abuse of their baby’s corpse.
Kylie Wilt, 25, who is the child’s mother, was charged with concealing the death, obstruction of justice, welfare fraud and tampering with evidence. The child’s father Alan Hollis was held by the officials for obstructing the administration of law, according to a local report by CBS’s KDKA.
The infant’s remains were recovered from a grey plastic tote bag inside a crate last week after police officials and the state department’s Child Youth Services (CYS) reached the couple’s house in Lookout Avenue’s 700 block looking for the one-year-old baby.
After the officials from Charleroi Regional Police Department reached the spot and started questioning Ms Wilt, she admitted to hiding the baby and said, “The baby is here.”
She said her baby died in February of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS) when they were living in their previous house on the Upper Crest Avenue.
Ms Wilt then wrapped her dead child’s body in a blanket and kept it in a crate, telling the officers that the parents did not have the money to bury their dead child.
The crate was then placed in a hole in the wall of her home. She covered the hole by making another makeshift drywall and painting it with a fresh coat, which looked a little off-shade to the investigators at the spot.
At the time of its birth, the child had cannabis’s psychoactive constituent Tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) in its system, reports said.
Washington County District Attorney Jason Walsh confirmed the recovery of the infant’s body from behind the makeshift wall and said: “We found out the child was placed in a wall, the inside wall and was dry walled over from statements made by mom.”
Robin Stasicha, a neighbour of the couple from the previous house, told the investigators that she knew about the presence of an infant. She said she heard the baby crying all the time until one day when it stopped, after which she grew worried.
Ms Stasicha said that she informed the property manager in the area who said that the baby had died but to her surprise, she had not seen an ambulance or anyone from 911 in the area.
She said: “I told her I hadn’t seen the baby and I was concerned, and she said the baby passed away. I was thinking, I’m here all the time. I never saw an ambulance. Wouldn’t you call 911 if your baby wasn’t responding to you?”
“I’m sick. It’s a horrible feeling,” Ms Stasicha said.
The child’s mother was physically abused by her partner Alan Hollis who reportedly kept her away from the rest of her family, Ms Wilt’s sister said, the report added.