'Role model' mother 'starved her newborn infant to death and hid mummified remains at a school'



A mother has been accused of deliberately starving her newborn baby to death.

Jessica Nicole Bradford was arrested after the mummified remains of her baby were found inside a school where she worked.



The 23 year old is alleged to have abandoned her baby in a vacant building on the campus of the school for troubled teens.

'Role model': Jessica Nicole Bradford, 23, worked with troubled teens, who said they looked up to her

The baby lived for four days before dying from lack of food and water.



Police said Bradford kept the pregnancy secret from her family and boyfriend of the last three years in Whitmore, California.



Bradford told police she did not give the baby girl a name as she did not want to feel attached to it.

She claimed she thought her daughter was stillborn but admitted to detectives she was alive when she left her alone in an empty room at the Julian Youth Academy.

After the baby died she hid its corpse in a laundry basket in her room, until a co-worker discovered the body and called police.

The sheriff’s office said the baby was a fully-developed, full-term infant and in a mummified state of decomposition.

Left to die: Bradford admitted to hiding her baby in an empty building at the Julian Youth Academy, where she worked

"It was shocking at least just to see the baby in the condition and given the circumstances that have been reported to us. it was a shocking case and one that we have not seen in some time," said Shasta County Sheriff's Department Det. Brian Jackson.

Bradford worked for a programme at the private Christian school called F.A.C.E.S.S, which stands for Fighting Against Child Exploitation and Sexual Slavery.

Julian Youth Academy: Police said Bradford was able to hide her baby because she stashed it in a vacant building at the school

She was seen as a role model to young women in the programme and had helped many girls at the school.

Friends said they had no idea she was pregnant and said she always wore baggy clothes.

Even her boyfriend of three years had no idea she was carrying a baby.



An arrest warrant for murder revealed that Bradford said she gave birth to the baby on September 19th under a deck near her dorm room so that no one would hear.

An autopsy was performed on the baby's body at the Shasta County Coroner's office, but because the case is a homicide the Coroner's office is not releasing any information.