Police: Mom sealed newborn in plastic bag after birth

A young office worker put her newborn son into a sealed plastic bag and hid him in a desk drawer after giving birth in a toilet stall at a Redford business, authorities revealed Friday at the woman's arraignment on murder and child abuse charges.

Kimberly Pappas, 25, of Wyandotte, told investigators that after giving birth, she cut the umbilical cord with cuticle scissors and put the baby the bag, returning to her desk with him, Detective Sgt. Kevin Crittenden of the Redford police department said.

For roughly 15 minutes to a half-hour, the baby was in the bag before firefighters arrived and found him still warm in a desk drawer, he said.

Employees had called Redford Fire Department after discovering blood in the bathroom at the business, Ceva Logistics on the 24400 block of Glendale. Pappas had told them it was a miscarriage, Crittenden said, but the autopsy showed homicide by suffocation.

Pappas, who spoke few words while appearing in court Friday by video arraignment, was not allowed bond by 17th Judicial District Judge Karen Khalil. Facing charges of felony murder, premeditated murder and first-degree child abuse, Pappas is to undergo a competency evaluation, returning to court at 9 a.m. June 8.

Farmington Hills defense attorney Ray Cassar told the Free Press afterward that Pappas has been in therapy for mental-health issues, and that if she intended to murder the baby, she wouldn't have done it at work.

She's been living with her parents, James and Peggy Pappas, who sat in the courtroom gallery during the arraignment.

"They love their daughter very much," Cassar said. He argued for bond so Kimberly Pappas could continue therapy and be "surrounded by people that love her. And she's not going to get that kind of love at Wayne County Jail, unfortunately."

He said he doesn't know who the baby's father is or whether he's aware of what happened.

Lora Weingarden with Wayne County Prosecutor's Office said mental-health concerns, as well as a risk of her fleeing given the seriousness of the charges, were among reasons to keep the defendant jailed. Kimberly Pappas, who Crittenden said doesn't have a previous criminal history, faces life in prison if convicted of murder.

He said Pappas cooperated with investigators and turned herself in Friday morning. On the day of the incident March 31, she had initially told firefighters she wasn't feeling well; they could tell something was wrong with her and escorted her away from co-workers.

"They spoke to her and indicated she really needed to be seen by the doctor," Crittenden said. "She told the lieutenant that she miscarried and that the child was in the desk drawer."

Firefighters tried to resuscitate the baby before he was taken, with Pappas, to a local hospital and pronounced dead at 11:55 a.m. March 31.

Police later learned that Pappas had known she was pregnant since before Christmas, hadn't received any prenatal care, and had felt the baby moving between Christmas and the birth, Crittenden said.

Pappas, a temporary-service employee, had told people at the freight-moving company that she wasn't pregnant, Ceva Logistics director Ken L'Heureux previously told the Free Press. She remained employed by Level Professional Services until Friday, but hadn't returned to work since the incident, according to a spokesperson with the company.

Cassar said those three weeks were spent with her parents and undergoing therapy. He said she appeared "pretty flat" on the video arraignment, adding that there are "serious issues" with her mental state.

"I don't think she understands what's going on," he said. "I don't."

There were no criminal charges until this week because Crittenden said that until the autopsy results definitively showed the baby was alive at birth, "we didn't have a crime."

A spokesman with the Wayne County Medical Examiner's Office said the autopsy was completed April 1, but the results were delayed the few weeks for toxicology results.

Crittenden said he's never seen a case like this, and he asked for people to be aware of the safe-delivery law that allows for newborn children to be dropped off at police or fire departments, no-questions-asked.

"It's a tragedy," he said. "I don't know how to put it any other way. Unfortunately, it's a tragedy for everybody involved: The baby, the victim, the baby's family and the rescue people that are in the midst of all this."

Contact Robert Allen at rallen@freepress.com or @rallenMI.