The mother of the infant girl abandoned outside a Chicago high-rise Wednesday night has been taken into custody, police said.
A man discovered the baby while heading to the Eastwood Shores apartment complex in Uptown’s 800 block of West Eastwood, police said.
He initially thought the baby wasn’t real and told the apartment building’s security guard he thought his mind was playing tricks on him – but police found an infant who had been left out in the cold.
Still alive but in critical condition, the young girl was rushed to Weiss Memorial Hospital, just one block from where she was discovered, police said. Soon after, she was pronounced dead.
The baby died of multiple blunt force injuries and her death was ruled a homicide, the Cook County medical examiner’s office said Thursday.
“I'm astounded,” said Niakema Thomas, who works nearby. “My daughter goes here to daycare, it's a nice facility... and I would never think that someone would actually leave their baby here."
The closest hospital is only a block away from where the baby was found.
"The hospital's right here,” said Eastwood Shores resident Alice Nelson. "If you were going to put the baby down... Another block wouldn't have made too much difference."
