One image — a distraught woman, face buried in her hands, on a video screen at a London court hearing.

Other images, from social media, of a seemingly happy life filled with friends and family.

The contrasts involving the woman charged after a dead baby was found in a garbage dumpster in London last week, triggering an urgent police appeal to find the mother, could not be sharper.

The accused is Samantha Richards, 23, a restaurant and bar server from Amherstburg, near Windsor, nearly 200 kilometres away from London where the infant was found in a grocery bag last Thursday.

She is accused of giving birth to an infant in a northeast London home and disposing of the baby’s body. It’s still not clear when the baby died — before, during or after the birth — or how.

Nor is it clear how far along the pregnancy was before the baby was born.

On publicly available social media feeds updated this month, Richards smiles alongside friends and family members in photos.

There are no mentions of pregnancy. The photos, showing only her upper body, feature a smiling face.

By contrast, it was a somber Richards who appeared briefly in a London court this week by video from the Elgin-Middlesex Detention Centre.

Wearing a green sweatshirt, her brown hair pulled into a ponytail, she wiped tears from her eyes. Sniffling could be heard from the back of the small courtroom, where three family members sat.

Richards is charged with not asking for help in childbirth — formally known as “neglect to obtain assistance in childbirth,” and with disposing of a child’s body after delivery.

The charges allege the baby was delivered at a London home on or about June 15 — the day before the body was found — and “died immediately before, during, or in a short time after birth as a result thereof,” and that the body was disposed shortly after that.

Asked how far along the pregnancy was when the baby was delivered, London police said they’re not providing that information yet since it’s part of the “investigative details” in their probe that continues.

Results of an autopsy have not yet been made public.

The discovery of the infant’s body in a reusable President’s Choice grocery bag behind a building just off London’s Richmond Row bar strip led to an urgent police appeal to the public to help locate the mother.

Police have not said what or who led them to Richards in Amherstburg.

Richards is apparently active on social media, with publicly available posts on Facebook and Instagram painting a picture of a life filled with friends and family, including a twin sister and a young niece.

Posted photographs appear from as recently as June 12, but none showing an obviously pregnant woman.

The latest Facebook post June 5 is a photo of a smiling Richards with a man at a Detroit Tigers baseball game.

A week later, a cheery picture of Richards with her sister was posted on Instagram. “So proud of this one. #happygrad. #loveyou,” the comment with the photo said.

The social media feeds are filled with sunny photos of Richards and people in her life, including from Mother’s Day.

Facebook lists Richards’ place of work as two Windsor bars — Dugout Bar Sports Lounge, and the Bull & Barrell — but she left at least one of those spots two months ago, staff said

Tuesday, a reporter spoke with Dugout staff, who confirmed Richards used to work there, but wouldn’t say whether she was still an employee.

“She was straight,” meaning a good person and good to work with, said a cook who gave her name as Melissa.

An owner of Bull & Barrell confirmed she was a former employee who left about eight weeks earlier, but declined to comment.

The charges against Richards contend there was “intent to conceal the birth of the child.” and failure to make arrangements to get “reasonable assistance” in the baby’s delivery.

Her lawyer, Patricia Brown of Windsor, declined to comment Tuesday.

A publication ban was imposed on evidence and information heard in the London hearing.

Police continue to investigate.

Police have not said whether the infant was a boy or girl, only that it was a newborn.

The infant may never had been found last Thursday, if not for a homeless man rummaging through large dumpsters behind a highrise at 675 Richmond St. He found the infant’s body in the grocery bag.

Police asked for public help to locate the infant’s mother, citing concern for her health and welfare.

Two days later, London police said a woman had been arrested by police in Amherstburg, near near Windsor.

Richards is scheduled for a bail hearing Thursday.

— With files by Windsor Star