VIENNA, Austria – Prosecutors are investigating whether a Romanian teenager killed her newborn by throwing it out of a brothel window, an official said Tuesday.
The alleged incident came to light on Saturday when the woman, identified only as an 18-year-old Romanian, checked into a hospital in Salzburg with heavy bleeding, Barbara Feichtinger, spokeswoman for the Salzburg public prosecutor's office, said.
Doctors there determined she had given birth shortly beforehand and alerted police because there was no sign of a child.
The woman said "something slid out of her" and that she then wrapped it in a towel and threw it out of the window, Feichtinger said. The newborn, a boy, was later found outside a Salzburg brothel and a subsequent autopsy showed it was capable of surviving at the time of birth.
Feichtinger said she did not know from what floor the baby was allegedly dropped but the Austria Press Agency reported that the child fell 7 to 8 meters (23 to 26 feet).
It would now be determined whether the woman, who is still hospitalized, was of sound mind, Feichtinger said.
If convicted, the woman could face up to five years behind bars, according to APA.
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