Two former hospital workers in Marietta, Georgia, have been arrested for stealing a teddy bear containing an urn with the ashes of a stillborn baby girl. Though the bear and the urn were later recovered, the baby’s ashes were gone.
According to the Associated Press, married couple Anilus and Rosnie Frederic have been charged with theft and abandonment of a dead body. Both were working in the laundry room at Wellstar Kennestone Hospital where the baby’s mother, Carla Watson, was receiving treatment at the time the bear was stolen. The teddy bear was later found in a trash can, while the empty urn was eventually discovered at the Frederics’ home.
Watson’s fiance, Kieran Massey, told WAGA-TV that it was devastating to discover their daughter’s ashes were missing.
“Losing her plus the ashes was a big heartbreak,” Massey said.
Massey said it felt like a weight off his shoulders when he heard that the Frederics were arrested for what they did to his daughter.
“I pray for them, hope they get better mentally and physically, but I just don’t understand why they would do something like this,” Massey said.
Sadly, cases such as this one are not unusual, as there have been several reported instances of hospitals disposing of the remains of children improperly.
In 2022, one couple sued Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston after the remains of their preborn daughter were thrown away with soiled laundry. Another couple recently spoke with Live Action News, sharing the heartbreaking story of their child’s remains being sent by a hospital to a landfill without their knowledge.
Much more commonly, aborted children are routinely discarded as trash and medical waste. In March 2022, the remains of more than 100 aborted babies were discovered in medical waste bins outside an abortion facility in Washington, D.C., including five babies who appear to have been killed late in pregnancy. Though some states have passed laws to ensure that aborted remains are discarded humanely, the reality is that many aborted children continue to be thrown out and disregarded.
