Published January 13, 2015
Investigators have found a marked grave for a baby at the home of the woman accused of attacking a young mother in her rural eastern Missouri home and kidnapping her baby.
Franklin County Sheriff Gary Toelke announced Friday that the marked grave at Shannon Torrez's home near the town of Lonedell was for a fetus that apparently died in 2000. Toelke also said an examination of Torrez showed she was recently pregnant.
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Torrez, 36, remains jailed on $1 million bond after pleading not guilty at her arraignment Sept. 21. She was arrested Sept. 19, four days after she allegedly slashed the throat of 21-year-old Stephenie Ochsenbine and stole her week-old baby, Abby. The child was returned unharmed the same day Torrez was arrested.
Click here to read the charges against Torrez (pdf)
No other fetuses were found on Torrez's property after an extensive search, the sheriff said in a news release. He did not return a phone call seeking further comment.
St. Louis County Medical Examiner Mary Case performed tests confirming the fetus died in 2000 from natural causes, Toelke said in a news release.
An examination by an OBGYN revealed "indications of a recent pregnancy," Toelke said.
Torrez, who lived just a few miles from Ochsenbine, allegedly passed Abby as her baby after the abduction, before her sister-in-law became suspicious, police said.
Police say Torrez told them she was pregnant and delivered a stillborn child Friday before attacking Ochsenbine. No remains of the stillborn child have been found.
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https://www.foxnews.com/story/investigators-find-babys-grave-at-missouri-home-of-kidnapping-suspect-torrez