MIDDLEPORT — A woman accused of throwing an infant girl into a trash bag and putting it out for pickup outside her Blythe Township home told authorities the baby was stillborn when she delivered it in the shower last week.
Tara Lynne Paltanavage, 22, of 189 Winfield Drive, remains in Schuylkill County Prison in lieu of $250,000 bail as authorities await on lab results after a forensic autopsy Wednesday morning.
Schuylkill County Coroner Dr. David J. Moylan said the autopsy was performed by pathologist Dr. Barbara Bollinger at Lehigh Valley Hospital and that a determination of cause and manner of death is pending the results of microscopic samples taken as well as toxicology tests. He said since that the infant’s body was badly decomposed which limited evaluation. He said the microscopic samples taken included tissue from the heart and lungs and it could take four to six weeks for an answer.
The coroner said he will wait until getting all of the results back before making a ruling on the case.
State police Trooper John Powis of the Frackville station charged Paltanavage with endangering the welfare of children, concealing the death of a child, recklessly endangering another person and abuse of a corpse, all misdemeanor offenses.
In his affidavit of probable cause filed with Magisterial District Judge David A. Plachko at the time of Paltanavage’s arraignment Tuesday, Powis outlined his case to the court.
He said that, on July 29, Paltanavage was apparently nearing a full term pregnancy and, while urinating, her water broke. She went to the bathtub, turned on the shower, and while sitting in the bathtub with the shower running, gave birth.
Powis said Paltanavage removed the infant from the tub, saw that it was not breathing and had no pulse, and put it in a red towel and went to her bedroom.
Powis said the woman made no attempts to resuscitate the infant and also did not announce its arrival or ask for help from other residents of the home.
Paltanavage then allegedly put the remains in a garbage bag which she set on a bench in the bedroom. Powis said she then put household garbage in the bag and then set it on the west side of her home for trash pickup.
Powis said that about 1 a.m. Tuesday, Kayla Stoops and Joseph Jimenez, residents of the home, were placing garbage out for pickup when they noticed an odor from a garbage bag and found the remains of the infant.
Troopers were called and, during the investigation, conducted interviews that indicated Paltanavage appeared to have been pregnant for several months, gained weight and experienced sickness associated with being pregnant, Powis said. They also said they noticed that Paltanavage recently appeared to have lost a considerable amount of weight and also denied being pregnant, the trooper said.
Later Tuesday, Powis said, Paltanavage was interviewed and admitted that she denied being pregnant to other household members as well as her fiance, Shane Stoops.