After concealing her pregnancy from her parents since July, a Neptune High School student gave birth to a baby boy at her home one week ago, then suffocated him before the baby’s father tossed him in a dumpster, according to authorities.
The grisly details about the death of the newborn — named Legend by his mother — were included in an affidavit of probable cause that led to a first-degree murder charge Friday against the mother, Jada M. McClain, 18, of Neptune.
Investigators said they were tipped off about the infanticide when a female friend of McClain’s contacted police in Asbury Park on Thursday to report that McClain had given birth to a baby the week before who was now deceased. The friend also told investigators that she had been with McClain in November when McClain had taken a self-administered pregnancy test that appeared to confirm she was with child.
In February, McClain showed off her stomach to her friend, which had swelled due to the pregnancy. McClain told her friend that she was drinking, smoking “weed” and taking pills in an effort to kill her unborn child, all according to the affidavit.
Last Sunday, McClain contacted the friend via the messaging app Snapchat to inform her that she had delivered the baby in the early morning hours of March 29.
McClain told the detectives that she had been dating Mohammed when she discovered she was pregnant sometime in July. At that time, she chose to conceal her pregnancy from her parents.
McClain explained that she had given birth to a son about 4 a.m. on March 29 while inside the bathroom of her mother’s Neptune home. She delivered the child while seated on the toilet but prevented the baby from falling into the water of the toilet bowl, according to the affidavit.
She said that the baby was crying at the time of his birth and after he was born, she went into the shower to clean herself and the baby.
She then took the baby into her bedroom and placed him on his back — on her bed. That’s when and where she used both of her hands to press on the baby’s chest to stop him from breathing, she told investigators, all according to the affidavit.
“Jada explained that prior to placing her hands on her baby’s chest, she disclosed that the baby was breathing and that her intention was to stop her baby from breathing,” the affidavit read.
About 6 a.m., McClain said she called Mohammed on her cell phone to inform him that she had delivered their child.
After speaking with him, she wrapped her baby in a blanket and placed the infant in a bag. She put the bag in the backseat of her Volkswagen Jetta, she said, according to the affidavit.
McClain then picked up Mohammed and the couple went to the ocean where they remained for about one hour. They then drove back to Mohammed’s home and sat in the car again for about one hour before pulling into the parking lot of the Washington Village apartment complex in Asbury Park, the affidavit read.
McClain told investigators that Mohammed got out of the car at the complex and discarded the baby’s remains in a trash dumpster, police said.
The Asbury Park Police Department later reviewed video surveillance recordings from Washington Village on March 29, which showed McClain’s Jetta arriving in the complex about 9:30 a.m. on that day.
The video also recorded Mohammed getting out of the front passenger seat and discarding what appeared to be a blue colored trash bag into the dumpster, according to the affidavit.
Neptune teen suffocated newborn; baby tossed in dumpster, cops say
The teen parents talked about their need to do “what’s best for them,” according to an affidavit of probable cause released Friday night.
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Quaimere Mohammed, 19, of Asbury Park has been charged with second-degree disturbing or desecrating human remains, according the Prosecutor's Office.
Baby murdered in Neptune; two teens charged
Few details are being released at this time, but authorities say the investigation began within the last 24 hours. Two people are in custody.
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