A pair of college students have been charged after the remains of their newborn son were found in the backyard of a residential property.
High Point University student Olivia Billington, who's 21, birthed the child with boyfriend Alex Best, who's 19. According to authorities, both parents refused to seek out medical attention for their baby boy once he was born.
The boy, who was born on September 4, reportedly lived for two days before dying. As of right now, it's unclear how the boy died. Police say that Best took the boy's remains and buried them at his family's home on Tomlin Mill Road in Iredell County in North Carolina. The remains were found in a shallow grave after suspicions arose.
According to the High Point Police Department, Billington turned herself in on October 1. Since the time when the baby was found, both Billington and Best have been cooperating with authorities. When the baby boy was discovered, his body was in a box filled with blankets.
Both Billington and Best have since been charged with felony concealment of death. A High Point University spokesperson made a statement about the unfortunate loss, stating, "Our thoughts and prayers are with those affected. While the High Point Police Department oversees the investigation, the university continues to provide health, safety and support services on campus to all students."
After being interviewed over the incident, Alex Best was taken to the Iredell County Detention Center, where he was held on a $10,000 secured bond. He was reportedly released the next day, with a charge of failing to report the death of a child. While the incident happened in September, there's still a lot to figure out over why this happened.
It's also unclear as to whether or not the families of the young couple knew about the pregnancy. While there are plenty of resources out there for young parents in need of assistance, many people still don't know about them. Billington and Best have yet to state a reason as to why things happened the way they did. That information may come out during their hearings.
North Carolina, like many other states, has a safe haven law in place. That means that infants under 7 days of age can be surrendered to authorities with no questions asked. This has been put in place so that the child can be adopted to a family safely, without the parents living in fear of being arrested for abandonment.
For many young parents, they may be unaware of how important it is for newborns to be surrounded by medical care during and after their arrival. Not many people are knowledgeable about what can happen during childbirth. Even though home births are possible and often successful, pregnant women often opt to use midwives or doulas who know how to handle emergencies, and they're usually there as the birth is happening. But it seems like Billington and Best's baby was born without qualified medical personnel around.
It's unclear if they even processed at the time that their actions would be a crime. "Any person who, with the intent to conceal the death of a person, fails to notify a law enforcement authority of the death or secretly buries or otherwise secretly disposes of a dead human body is guilty," the statute states.
If the baby was taken in after birth, Billington and Best could have relinquished their rights and moved forward. "The Safe Haven law does not replace adoption, but rather provides a process for parents who feel that they have no other choice but to surrender their child," the North Carolina Medical Board states. "The parent's age does not matter."
While nothing will be able to erase this upsetting memory for Billington and Best, hopefully their case will raise more awareness for other young people who find themselves pregnant and confused — or pregnant without any knowledge about what to do when the baby arrives. Resources are out there, and nobody should feel nervous about checking them out. A baby is a life-changing experience.
While it seems as if Billington and Best are doing everything they can to cooperate in the investigation, it's still ongoing as an autopsy didn't reveal the cause of death. It's possible the baby may have had complications in the womb due to lack of medical care, if the parents chose not to see a doctor throughout the pregnancy. No matter what, this is a sad story that could have been prevented.
