Accused mom 'can't recall' where infant boy is

LANSING – Approximately three months after prosecutors say Melissa Mitin killed her newborn daughter by putting the infant face-down in a wastebasket, Mitin was pregnant again.

That pregnancy was unknown to police, judges as well as prosecutors when the 25-year-old Okemos woman was charged last year with murder.

At her arraignment in May 2014 in 55th District Court, Magistrate Mark Blumer set Mitin's bond at $5,000. Blumer did not set any conditions that Mitin had to follow. At the time, she was living with her parents at their Okemos home, working on a master's degree in kinesiology at Michigan State University.

Mitin, who was described last year as weighing about 215 pounds, also apparently hid the pregnancy from her parents.

It was revealed at a hearing Wednesday in Ingham County Circuit Court that Mitin had been hiding a second pregnancy. She gave birth last month to a baby boy who is now missing.

Mitin earlier this week told a family court judge that she "could not recall" where the baby boy is, said Ingham County Assistant Prosecutor Debra Rousseau.

"If that is true," Rousseau said, "then she has some major psychological issues."

Circuit Judge Jim Jamo revoked Mitin's bond, and she is being held at the Ingham County Jail.

She did not speak in court Wednesday. Her parents were not in the courtroom.

Also Wednesday, Jamo granted a request by Mitin's attorney, Frank Reynolds, to send her for competency tests at the state's Center for Forensic Psychiatry. Those tests are to determine if she is competent to stand trial and if she can be held criminally responsible in the December 2013 death of the infant. The tests typically are completed within 60 to 90 days.

Reynolds told Jamo that after meeting with Mitin Tuesday and based on her claims in family court that she doesn't know where her baby boy is, "I have some serious concerns about her psychological well-being."

Reynolds declined to elaborate further after the hearing.

Infant son born while Mitin awaiting murder trial

Mitin had been receiving medical care, and was last seen at a doctor's office in mid-December. She was about 35 weeks pregnant at the time, and it was considered a healthy pregnancy, Rousseau said.

When Mitin didn't return for a follow up appointment, she told the doctor's office "she didn't return because she already had given birth," Rousseau said.

The medical practice then notified Child Protective Services.

It's not known who the father of the missing baby boy is, Reynolds said. An examination Tuesday showed she had given birth about three weeks ago.

Mitin is still awaiting trial in the Dec. 26, 2013 death of her newborn girl. According to testimony, she concealed the pregnancy, gave birth in a bathroom and put the infant face down in a wastebasket. The umbilical cord and placenta were still attached.

A forensic pathologist said the infant died of positional asphyxiation. Mitin told police that after giving birth, the baby cried but then stopped breathing.

The father of the girl was a student at Michigan State University who is now living in another country.

Mitin's mother in 'total shock' about pregnancy

At the time of the girl's death, Mitin, her parents and her sister were staying at a friend's Okemos home because their own house was without power after that winter's ice storm. Her family didn't know Mitin was pregnant then, either.

Her mother, Deborah, an attorney, testified at a preliminary hearing last year that she "was in total shock" when she saw the baby in a wastebasket. Mitin's older sister had found the wastebasket in a bathroom cabinet, according to testimony.

"I...couldn't grasp what my eyes were seeing," Deborah Mitin testified. "And then I said to Melissa, 'Did you have sex?' And she said, 'I was forced to. I was raped.'"

That statement appears to be false. Mitin apparently never told her parents about any boyfriends she had in recent years.

Also at the preliminary hearing, Deborah Mitin was asked whether she shared her views about premarital sex with her daughters.

"We've never had the sex talk when they were growing up," she testified. "You know, from our church upbringing."

She didn't explain further.

Police seeking tips on missing infant

Anyone with information, or who may have seen Melissa Mitin between mid-December and early January is urged to call Meridian Township police at 853-4800 or email Sgt. Andrew McCready at mccready@meridian.mi.us.