14-year-old charged with suffocating newborn daughter

A 14-year-old girl accused of suffocating her newborn daughter and leaving the infant’s body in a bin has been charged with murder.

The teenager was also charged yesterday with concealment of a homicide, said Thomas Mountford, deputy police chief of the Sauk Village Police Department in Illinois.

The girl’s name was not released because she was charged as a juvenile, Mountford said. A judge could later decide to try her as an adult, authorities said.

A relative of the teen found the baby on Wednesday night in a bin in the garage of the teen's home.

The relative called police and paramedics, who were unable to revive the infant.

The teen delivered the baby by herself and did not tell anyone in her house, Mountford said.

She was being held at the police station and was expected to be transferred to the Cook County Juvenile Temporary Detention Centre.