A Georgia coroner has ruled the death of a baby decapitated during birth a homicide.
Treveon Taylor died from a “fracture dislocation with complete transection [to the] upper cervical spine and spinal cord,” the Clayton County Medical Examiner’s Office announced on Tuesday, according to WANF.
The medical examiner said a problem with the baby’s shoulders during birth (shoulder dystocia) and the stopping of labor entrapped the baby in the birth canal. Pregnancy-induced diabetes and the premature rupture of membranes were contributing factors, the medical examiner said, to a death caused by the “actions of another person.”
Jessica Ross, 20, went into labor on July 9, 2023, and went to Prime Healthcare Service, Inc. d/b/a Southern Regional Medical Center in Riverdale, as CrimeOnline reported when she filed a lawsuit against the clinic and the doctor last August.
The lawsuit says that one of the baby’s shoulders got stuck during the delivery — shoulder dystocia — prompting the doctor to try several methods to complete the delivery before opting for a Cesarean section some three hours later. The staff did not tell Ross and the baby’s father, Treveon Taylor Sr, what happened — they learned the baby had been decapitated from the funeral home.
The lawsuit says that the baby’s body and legs were delivered by the C-section, but the head was delivered vaginally. It also says the hospital encouraged Ross and Taylor to have the baby cremated and skip an autopsy.
When the couple asked to see the baby and hold him, the lawsuit says, hospital staff brought the baby wrapped tightly in a blanket with his head “propped on top of his body,” concealing the decapitation.
The funeral home also alerted the medical examiner’s office to the baby’s death, WANF said.
The medical examiner’s office said it would be up to the district attorney to determine what, if any, criminal charges would be filed.
Southern Regional Medical Center issued a statement claiming the death took place “prior to the delivery and decapitation” and said the doctor — Tracy St. Julian — was not “and never has been” an employee of the hospital, WSB said.
