Murder charges possible for mom

Court records: Baby found under bathroom sink

By Christian Hill | The Olympian • Published August 15, 2008

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LACEY – Moments after giving birth Sunday, Jessica L. Wemhaner cradled her newborn daughter in her arms in the master bathroom of her Lacey home, then wrapped the girl in a green towel and placed her in the cabinet under the bathroom sink, court records say.

Lacey police found the newborn's body in the cabinet hours after Wemhaner, 29, was transported to Providence St. Peter Hospital for medical complications, and they grew suspicious of her denials about having given birth.

On Thursday, Thurston County Superior Court Judge Anne Hirsch set bail at $250,000 during Wemhaner's first court appearance since her arrest for investigation of first-degree manslaughter. She was being held Thursday night at the Thurston County Jail.

"It's all pretty disturbing," the judge said near the conclusion of the brief hearing.

Charges are expected to be filed today, and Deputy Prosecuting Attorney Christy Peters didn't rule out that they could be upgraded to murder.

At 12:41 p.m. Sunday, Wemhaner's husband, Daniel, called 9-1-1 and reported that Wemhaner was suffering from vaginal bleeding and was pale and unable to stand. He told the dispatcher "that he thought it was possibly a miscarriage," court records say.

She was transported from her home in the 5900 block of Cherokee Loop Southeast to St. Peter.

The hospital's on-call gynecologist performed surgery on Wemhaner and consulted with a pathologist after finding a placenta with a piece of the umbilical cord attached, court records say. The pathologist said the dimensions of the placenta were consistent with a fetus weighing between 31/2 and 7 pounds.

Wemhaner, a 1997 graduate of Tumwater High School, denied being pregnant or having any knowledge of a newborn when asked by the gynecologist. She also said she had three prior pregnancies, and none of the babies survived through birth, court records say.

The doctor called police shortly after 5 p.m. and told the two Lacey detectives who responded that a live newborn was somewhere.

Police secured a search warrant and searched the Wemhaners' home after 9 p.m., with Daniel Wemhaner present. Inside, they found a large amount of blood on the living room couch and in the master bedroom, as well as blood-stained clothes and towels in the dryer, court records state. They found cleaning supplies at several locations around the house, records show.