TUSCUMBIA, Mo. (AP) - A central Missouri woman is charged with second-degree murder and abandonment of a corpse three years after her newborn baby's body was found in the trunk of her car.
Thirty-six-year-old Emily Usnick (YOU-snick) was charged this week with leaving the baby's body in car at a home in St. Elizabeth in February 2009.
KXEO reports (http://bit.ly/w7mIsL) that prosecutors believe Usnick gave birth unattended, then put the baby's body in a plastic bag.
The Miller County Sheriff's Office says that prosecutor Matt Howard waited to press more serious charges until the state clarified whether Usnick could be charged with murder.
Usnick is being held in Miller County Jail on $300,000 dollar bond. Online court records do not indicate that she has an attorney.