Mother Charged in Stillborn Death
Fetal and Placental Remains of 4 Are Discovered in Ocean City

By Dan Morse and William Wan
Washington Post Staff Writers
Tuesday, July 31, 2007

OCEAN CITY -- Christy Freeman's story seemed to make no sense. The 37-year-old patient with signs of vaginal bleeding, a seven- to eight-month-old placenta in her womb and an irregular cut to the umbilical cord told doctors she hadn't been pregnant.

After questioning her, detectives went to Freeman's house.

Inside a trunk in the living room, they found the remains of two fetuses in two plastic bags and what appeared to be a placenta in a third bag. In a vanity under the bathroom sink, they discovered a 26-week-old, 2 1/2 -pound stillborn child wrapped in a blood-smeared towel. And in the upper section of a Winnebago parked outside were the remains of a fourth tiny body.

Authorities have charged Freeman, a taxicab company owner, with first-degree murder in the death of the stillborn child found in the vanity, under a law that makes it illegal to kill a "viable fetus."

None of this, Freeman said Monday, is what it appears.

"I need to clear my name in this case," she told Worcester County District Court Judge Daniel R. Mumford during a bond hearing.

At times during the hearing, Freeman looked confused. "This is all new to me," she told Mumford at one point. The judge ordered her held without bond.

Joel J. Todd, the state's attorney for Worcester County, said prosecutors believe they know what caused the stillborn to die "in utero." At trial, he said, prosecutors will have to prove that the cause of death was murder, because the law appears to have an exception for self-induced abortion.

Increasingly gruesome details of the case emerged throughout the day Monday in the resort community, drawing national media to Freeman's residence on Sunset Drive, within three blocks of the beach. Freeman lives in an upstairs apartment with her boyfriend, Raymond Godman Jr., and four children, according to Ocean City police.

As swimmers walked by, police and federal agents began an excavation of a vacant lot next to the house in which Freeman lives.

"It's crazy. You don't see things like this, even in D.C.," said a tourist, Butch Kalender, 49, from Arlington County, who first noticed a police commotion around the house last week, when he and his kids went to a sandwich shop for lunch.

Public officials expressed concern that the matter would portray the town in an unfair light. "This is a nice place, not a scene out of the movie 'Deliverance,' " Todd said in an interview.

Detectives were exploring several angles of the case late Monday. Among them was the possibility that more evidence might be buried in the vacant lot. Over the weekend, a cadaver-sniffing dog had indicated the potential for such a discovery.

Also, authorities plan to call in a bruise expert to investigate 12 bruised areas on the left side of Freeman's body, including her inner thigh, stomach and leg, and seven bruised areas on her right side, including the inner thigh and forearm. They want to know whether the injuries were self-inflicted or came about some other way.

Authorities began investigating the case Thursday after paramedics were called to Freeman's home by the report of a woman vomiting and suffering from stomach pain.

When they arrived, they found her lying on a sofa, with a garbage bag and towels under her waist and signs of "heavy vaginal bleeding," according to a statement of charges signed by Ocean City police detective Todd Speigle.

Freeman denied being pregnant or having any knowledge of pregnancy, Speigle wrote. She maintained this story after being taken to the hospital and after doctors found "what they approximated to be between a 30-36 week old placenta inside Freeman's womb with an irregular cut to the umbilical cord," Speigle wrote.

At some point, however, under questioning at the hospital, Freeman admitted that "she had an infant while at" her home. She said that when she pushed on the infant, the umbilical cord snapped, according to the charging documents. Freeman also said the infant did not have hands or feet.

Authorities said the stillborn child found in the vanity had the "basic structures of a human" -- eyes, nose, mouth, torso, arms, hands and fingers, legs, feet and toes. The child appeared to be a boy.

The infant's body was taken to the medical examiner's office in Baltimore. The other remains also were taken to Baltimore, but authorities said they apparently would be taken to a lab that specializes in missing children, where more testing would be done.

Many people in Ocean City know of Freeman through the business, Classic Taxi, that police said she owns with her boyfriend. It offers rides in restored cars, including a 1961 Fleetwood Cadillac 60 Series and a 1966 Chrysler Newport, according to Classic Taxi's Web site.

On the Web site is a small biography of Freeman.

"Ray and I have been together since 1988," it reads.

"My hobbies are our four children," she wrote. "We enjoy NASCAR races and the ocean. As a family we fish, boat, and camp together. The best part about my job is meeting the various passengers. We have hauled everyone from famous singers to the general lay worker."

Staff researcher Meg Smith contributed to this report. Morse reported from Washington.