FAIRFIELD — The case of a Fairfield woman who killed her newborn infant and discarded the remains in a garage fits a pattern documented from other cases across the country.

There were warning signs that Kayla Stewart – who pleaded guilty this month to a charge of manslaughter – needed help before the incident took place.

That’s according to at least one expert who has studied and written about the phenomenon of mothers killing their children.

Michelle Oberman, a law professor at Santa Clara University School of Law in California, has written two books on the subject.

She said that cases such as Stewart’s involve women who did not make a plan for going into labor and who are described by mental health professionals as having “profound denial” about their pregnancies, so much that they often convince themselves that they aren’t pregnant.

Kayla Stewart, center, hears her sentencing from Judge Robert Murray as she stands with attorneys Pamela Ames and John Martin at Somerset Superior Court in Skowhegan on Jan. 4.

Many of the women end up giving birth in a bathroom, thinking the labor pains are bowel movements.

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“The power of the mind to wish away the pregnancy is that great,” Oberman said.

Nearly one year to the day after being accused of killing her newborn, Stewart, now 21, entered her plea. The baby’s body was discovered wrapped in towels and trash bags behind an oil tank in her garage, and the case set the stage for multiple high-profile court hearings.

Stewart was sentenced to 15 years in prison with all but nine years suspended and four years probation after her release. She had been facing a murder charge, but that was dismissed.

Stewart’s profile matches that described by experts.

During her Jan. 4 hearing in Skowhegan, Stewart’s adoptive parents spoke of her struggles with mental illness.

Her defense attorney, Pamela Ames, said her biological mother suffered from schizophrenia and she had a strained relationship with her adoptive mother. She said Stewart would often be isolated, as the infant’s father, Nicholas Blood, worked long hours, and the couple struggled financially.

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She said Stewart’s psychological makeup led her to avoid problems. “She didn’t know what to do – what she did was nothing,” Ames said.

Stewart’s attorney previously argued that Stewart had a miscarriage and panicked, so she was not responsible for the child’s death. Ames had said that Stewart became convinced she was going to deliver a stillborn baby.

Stewart was in the garage of the home she shared with Blood on the night of Dec. 30, 2015, when Ames said she had a contraction and delivered the baby, who was named Evan James Blood. Ames said Stewart checked for vital signs to make sure the baby was stillborn.

The residence of Kayla Stewart and Nicholas Blood on Norridgewock Road in Fairfield, where authorities said she killed her newborn infant.

The residence of Kayla Stewart and Nicholas Blood on Norridgewock Road in Fairfield, where authorities said she killed her newborn infant.

Ames said Stewart put the baby behind the oil tank not as a way to hide him, but to keep the baby with her. “She was overwhelmed with her life,” Ames said.

Prosecutors said Stewart gave birth to a full-term, healthy baby boy and killed him by either smothering or suffocating the child or by leaving him in a cold, unheated garage to die, later telling a state police detective that she “made sure” the baby was dead. The baby’s body was found by authorities on Jan. 11, 2016.

The act of killing an infant 1-year-old or younger is known as infanticide. When the killing occurs within the baby’s first 24 hours of life, it is known as neonaticide.

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Oberman, the law professor, said often the mothers who end up committing neonaticide are in denial and believe, correctly or not, that they would be ostracized for having the baby or their life would be negatively affected by it.

In Maine, “safe haven” laws allow a person to drop off a newborn baby with an employee at any law enforcement agency, medical emergency room or medical services provider

The best hope, Oberman said, is to publicize safe haven laws as a way to mobilize people. She said things as simple as billboards and telephone hot lines begin the conversation.

“If we’re going to accept there’s a number of women who will panic and deny it, then the best we can do is try to get someone in her life to make sure she’s as safe as possible,” Oberman said.


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