CASTLE ROCK, Colo. – A Douglas County judge denied bond for a Highlands Ranch woman who is accused of tossing her newborn onto a neighbor’s deck where it was found dead in January.
Camille Wasinger-Konrad, 23, allegedly gave birth on Jan. 2, 2018 and then tossed her newborn onto a neighbor’s back deck where it was found dead about 14 hours later.
Wasinger-Konrad is charged with first-degree murder of a victim under 12 by someone in a position of trust and first-degree murder after deliberation and tampering with evidence.
Court records have been sealed in her case but KDVR learned a number of new details at the defendant’s preliminary hearing Tuesday morning, including the fact that Wasinger-Konrad claimed to not know she was pregnant until the morning she gave birth.
Douglas County Sheriff Deputies responded to the 500 block of Longfellow Lane around 9:45 p.m. on the night of Jan. 2 after a woman named Jeanette Barich reported finding a dead infant on her back deck.
Barich told detectives she went onto her back deck to use her hot tub when she noticed her dog smelling what appeared to be a dead baby. She immediately brought the infant inside her home and called 911.
Detectives found a bloody shower curtain in the next-door neighbor’s trash can. It turns out Wasinger-Konrad had been renting a room from the family next door for about four months.
Wasinger-Konrad’s landlord told detectives she had cleaned an immense amount of blood that morning from the upstairs bathroom that Wasinger-Konrad uses but had no idea Wasinger-Konrad might have been pregnant.
Douglas County Detective Adam Moorman found Wasinger-Konrad sitting on her bed upstairs and she agreed to talk with him but claimed to have no idea what he might be investigating.
After he asked Wasinger-Konrad if her DNA might match the dead baby he found next door, she responded, “Well the thing is I I don’t want to get in trouble” but eventually explained she woke up that morning between 6 a.m. and 7 a.m. to bad stomach cramps and “the baby just came out.”
In an interview recorded on a deputy’s body camera, Wasinger-Konrad told detectives “I just got rid of it,” referring to the baby.
She explained that she put her hand over the baby’s mouth so that her landlord’s family, who were all asleep, wouldn’t hear the newborn crying. She then claimed to have carried the baby outside in a blanket and sat on the deck for about ten minutes still covering the baby’s mouth.
Then she said she walked to the edge of the backyard, and, with an underhand motion, tossed the newborn over a nine-foot fence.
Detective Moorman testified that blood evidence indicates the infant bounced off a railing and the back of a deck chair before landing on Barich’s deck, where her dog found the newborn.
A complete autopsy detailing the cause and estimated time of death has not yet been released.
Detective Adam Moorman testified that he later interviewed a co-worker of Wasinger-Konrad’s named Denise Craven.
The two worked together at a King Soopers in Highlands Ranch and Craven told Moorman that Wasinger-Konrad had requested a new schedule in recent months to work a job where she wouldn’t have to lift items because she claimed to be pregnant.
Wasinger-Konrad’s public defender pointed out that Detective Moorman never interviewed supervisors at King Soopers to confirm if Wasinger-Konrad had mentioned being pregnant and needing a new schedule and job assignment.
It was also revealed that Wasinger-Konrad’s family and boyfriend refused to talk to detectives, so it’s not clear if they knew she was pregnant.
At the end of the preliminary hearing, the judge granted a motion from prosecutors to immediately swab Wasinger-Konrad for DNA. She will back in court for her arraignment on May 22.
