Decatur police did a wellbeing check on a Decatur woman after her sister said the woman was eight months pregnant and had lost weight overnight, leading to the discovery of a deceased newborn in a dumpster last week, according to new details from a detective’s affidavit filed in Morgan County District Court.

Cindy Nicole Crow, 36, was charged with abuse of a corpse and has remained in Morgan County Jail since last Wednesday in lieu of a $200,000 bond, according to police and jail records.

Around 4 p.m. on Oct. 16, a couple of hours prior to the police wellbeing check and as Crow was leaving her home in the 1400 block of Beech Street Southeast, Crow’s sister noticed a large white trash bag in the rear of Crow’s vehicle, according to the affidavit sworn to by Detective Jasmin Ferizovic. The sister told investigators that Crow refused to let her examine the bag; after Crow departed, the sister found bloody feminine products in the home’s trash.

“(The sister) said Crow had denied being pregnant the entire duration of the pregnancy,” Ferizovic said. “(The sister) believed Crow gave birth and was concerned where the baby was.”

Ferizovic said Crow went to her aunt’s house and, when she arrived, the trash bag was no longer in her vehicle.

Officers said they then met Crow at her workplace where she agreed to go to a hospital to prove she wasn’t pregnant. After a medical exam, Crow gave police consent to search her cellphone, according to Ferizovic.

Crow had a family tracking app called Life360 on her phone that detectives were able to use to retrace her afternoon route, Ferizovic said.

“The results of a blood test yielded a positive pregnancy test, and her uterus was dilated to over twice the normal size,” Ferizovic said. “Hospital staff said that Crow was seen at the hospital in February 2023. At that time, hospital staff confirmed that Crow was 6 weeks pregnant with a due date of Oct. 13.”

After the results, Crow agreed to speak with investigators at the Police Department and told them she was pregnant in February but miscarried shortly after, according to Ferizovic. Crow allegedly admitted to having a white trash bag in the vehicle but claimed it contained trash from the vehicle.

“When asked where the trash bag was, Crow provided multiple locations that were later determined to be false,” Ferizovic said.

On Oct. 17, police searched the route from Crow’s Life360 app. Officers discovered a trash bag matching the sister’s description in the dumpster of Wally World Mini Mart at 2505 Point Mallard Drive S.E., according to Ferizovic.

Inside the bag, police said they found a full-term deceased baby girl. The body was transported to the Alabama Department of Forensic Sciences for an autopsy. Police said additional criminal charges are likely forthcoming pending the autopsy results.

According to Ferizovic, surveillance video from the convenience store showed a vehicle matching the description of Crow’s and corroborating data from Life360.

A warrant for Crow’s arrest signed by a Morgan County judge on Oct. 18 notes an elevated bond for a few reasons:

—Crow being on bond at the time of offense.

—Violence in the alleged commission of offense.

—The likelihood of conviction.

—The desecration of a child’s body.

If Crow is able to make bond, the judge wrote that she must enroll in the pretrial community corrections program and submit to monitoring.

According to court records, Crow was arrested in August 2022 for third-degree theft and released from jail after posting a $1,000 bond. According to a police affidavit in that case, Crow was working as a clerk at a convenience store on Somerville Road S.E. and over the course of two hours sold another woman eight cartons of cigarettes and three cases of Swisher Sweet cigars for $102.89, when the actual price should have been $765. Her trial on the theft charge is set for March 18.

Abuse of a corpse is a Class C felony punishable by up to 10 years in prison.

— [email protected] or 256-340-2438.

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