Woman Arrested After Dead Baby Found in Suitcase Left Inside a Doghouse

A woman in Idaho is facing multiple felony charges after police found her newborn dead in a suitcase hidden in a doghouse at the home of Jessica Lynn Weeks.

On June 5, Bannock County Sheriff's deputies responded to a "suspicious circumstance" call near Downey, per East Idaho News.

The person who called in reportedly told police that her son, who is incarcerated, told her that there was a "deceased infant possibly going to be located in a piece of luggage near the dog house in the back of the residence."

According to court documents, officers spoke to the inmate, who said that Weeks had not wanted to go to the hospital to deliver her baby because of her drug use.

A second inmate said he witnessed Weeks put the baby in the suitcase after giving birth and told police in January, he saw Weeks put a purple suitcase in a dog house.

When he was cleaning up a few months later, the second inmate opened up the suitcase and found "an infant’s leg that flopped onto his arm." He said the baby was wrapped in black plastic.

Law enforcement went to Weeks' house with a search warrant where she was arrested due to a previous warrant out for her arrest out of Franklin County for possession of narcotics.

Officers noticed an "odor of decomposition" at the house and found the purple suitcase in the doghouse hidden behind a tire and bags of trash. Inside the suitcase, they found skeletal remains of a newborn infant along with decomposing tissue.

A friend of Weeks' who was at the birth told police that the baby died shortly after the baby’s father helped to provide rescue breaths for about an hour. The alleged father told police he did not know anything about Weeks being pregnant or placing the baby in a suitcase in the dog house.

On Aug. 16, deputies received an FBI report that concluded the baby was between 36 and 40 weeks old and showed no signs of trauma.

Weeks has been charged with felony injury to a child, felony failure to notify of a death, and felony destruction, alteration, or concealment of evidence. Neither the alleged father nor Weeks' friend are facing any charges.

If convicted, Weeks could face up to 25 years in prison.