Emily Jane Dickinson and Joshua Coleman Wooters (Fulton County Jail)
A 19-year-old man and a 20-year-old woman in Pennsylvania have been arrested and accused of killing their newborn baby, letting the little boy bleed to death less than a day after he was born, then tossing his body out of the second-story window of their home.
Joshua Coleman Wooters and Emily Jane Dickinson were taken into custody this week and charged with one count each of criminal homicide, conspiracy, concealing the death of an infant and abuse of a corpse in the boy’s March 2024 death, court records reviewed by Law&Crime show.
Wooters was also charged with an additional misdemeanor count of obstruction of a law enforcement function.
According to a news release from the Pennsylvania State Police, troopers at about 8:45 a.m. on March 11 responded to reports of a dead male baby found in the street near the intersection of Lincoln Way and North 2nd Street in McConnellsburg Borough, Pennsylvania, about 160 miles west of Philadelphia.
Upon arriving at the scene, first responders located the newborn victim about 20 feet north of the intersection. A bloodstained mattress, a placenta, and multiple disposable items were also found in a trash bag near the body of the little boy, who was pronounced dead on the scene.
Court documents obtained by Harrisburg, Pennsylvania ABC affiliate WHTM provided additional details regarding the investigation that led to the arrests of Wooters and Dickinson.
The report states that the Fulton County Coroner’s Office determined that the newborn victim had been born less than 24 hours prior and the gestational age was approximately 36 or 37 weeks. A subsequent autopsy determined that the baby’s cause of death was “exsanguination from the umbilical stump,” meaning severe loss of blood.
While canvassing the neighborhood for information about the victim, a trooper spoke to Wooters and the teen denied knowing anything about the baby, Harrisburg CBS affiliate WHP reported.
The investigation led police to the apartment of Wooters and Dickinson, whose second-story window overlooks the area where the child was found. Troopers on April 1 again spoke to Wooters and he again denied having any knowledge about the infant and claimed to be a virgin, telling authorities he had never even had “S-E-X,” spelling out the word rather than saying it, per the Daily Voice
Troopers on April 3 executed a search warrant at the couple’s apartment in the 100 block of Lincoln Way W, where they reportedly found evidence of blood in the bedroom and bathroom. It was also noted that the apartment had multiple windows overlooking the area where they newborn was discovered.
When investigators spoke to Wooters, he reportedly admitted the baby was his and Dickinson’s, explaining that his “first reaction of something that’s traumatic for me is, um, to lie,” per WHTM. He said that Dickinson only told him she was pregnant in February and that he was too young to be a father.
“I’m only 19, like, do you really think a person that’s the age of 19 should have a child, no, not at all, they’re too immature,” he reportedly said.
Wooters told investigators that Dickinson “picked up the baby as someone would pick up ‘dog poop”” and sliced the umbilical cord with a kitchen knife, failing to clamp it afterward, the Daily Voice reported. He said Dickinson then walked over to the bathroom window and threw the child from the second story to the concrete below.
Wooters said that after seeing the baby tossed from the window, he yelled “What the f— did you do?” at Dickinson, but then put the mattress and other items in a trash bag and tossed it out of the same window. Neither of them called 911.
Dickinson was reportedly interviewed on April 11 in the presence of her attorney. She reportedly said that she gave birth at home but believed the child had died just after she cut the umbilical cord. However, she said she believed that, due to blood loss, she was hallucinating that the child continued moving and crying.
Dickinson allegedly told police she had no concept of time and “wasn’t thinking clearly,” but remembered throwing the baby and the placenta out of the window. She said she believed the boy was dead at the time. Despite being a certified nursing assistant, Dickinson also said she never attempted to perform CPR on her newborn.
DNA tests reportedly came back positive for the newborn victim being the child of Wooters and Dickinson.
A search of Dickinson’s phone also showed that she performed internet searches for pregnancy-related topics such as “abortion law” and “home birth how long does the bleeding last.”
The couple are currently being held in the Bedford County Jail. They were both denied bond because they are both facing possible sentences of life in prison.
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