Quincy teen mom charged in baby's death

Girl says rape caused pregnancy and infant was stillborn

A Quincy teen-ager has been charged with second-degree murder in the death of her newborn baby girl.

Nicole Marie Gonzalez, 15, will appear in Grant County Juvenile Court on June 2 to respond to the charges that she gave birth to the baby on Jan. 11 and allegedly left the infant girl outside her home in Quincy to die.

According to a report from Quincy police officer F.S. Goodwin, Gonzalez told police that the infant was stillborn.

However, Gina Fino, the Chelan County coroner who performed the autopsy, said she thought the baby was born alive and died from either being smothered in a blanket or exposure to the cold.

Quincy police were alerted of the baby's death by Central Washington Hospital Scott Stroming, who treated Gonzalez and first learned she had given birth, then wrapped the child in towels and a plastic bag and dropped her out a bedroom window.

Police found the baby wrapped in plastic bag on top of an appliance outside the window. According to Quincy Sgt. S.D. Jones, the baby had a small laceration, scratch or stab wound on the left side of the chest. It was not an open wound, but Jones wrote that it appeared to have been caused by a small knife.

The umbilical cord was still attached to the baby, according to Jones.

Jones then obtained a search warrant, approved by Grant County Superior Court Judge Kenneth Jorgensen, to collect documentation from Gonzalez' home, such as diaries, letters and other personal writings that might be related to the pregnancy.

Gonzalez told police she became pregnant after she was raped by an unidentified man in a Quincy orchard. She said she and a friend went with the man to the orchard and were drinking alcohol with him.

Gonzalez never reported the rape. According to police reports, she said she kept quiet because she didn't want her mother to think she was promiscuous.

Both Gonzalez' mother and father told Quincy police they did not know their daughter was pregnant until the night she gave birth. Gonzalez' father said he had spoken with her mother about their daughter's weight gain and was told not to say anything because she was sensitive about her looks.

According to Goodwin's report, police could not locate any evidence to show Gonzalez had received pre-natal or pregnancy-related care at the Quincy Community Health Clinic.