A newborn baby tragically lost his life after being thrown from a second-story window in McConnellsburg, Pennsylvania. On Tuesday, June 25, 2024, police arrested two individuals, Emily Jane Dickinson, 20, and Joshua Coleman Wooters, 19, in connection with the infant’s death.
The baby, estimated to be 36 weeks along in the pregnancy, was found dead at an intersection in McConnellsburg on March 11, 2024. The child weighed just 4 pounds and had brown hair and blue eyes. Investigators also discovered the placenta nearby, as well as a trash bag containing a blood-stained mattress cover.
According to police reports, Wooters was the first person they spoke to, as his apartment overlooks the intersection where the baby was found. He initially denied any knowledge of the child. Later, he admitted that he and Dickinson, a certified nursing assistant in Maryland, were in a sexual relationship and that Dickinson had given birth to the baby in their apartment.
He initially lied to officers, claiming he hadn’t seen Dickinson since October and that they were not in a sexual relationship. However, when confronted with the fact that Dickinson had been spotted in the area in March, Wooters admitted he had lied because he was reacting to something “traumatic.”
Wooters then confessed that the two had been having sex and that he only learned about the baby a month earlier. He said he was not ready to be a father.
“He then admitted that one day, Dickinson woke him up and said she was in labor. Wooters went into the bathroom until he heard the baby cry. He said he rocked the baby to quiet him and then cut the umbilical cord with a kitchen knife,” the report detailed.
Wooters claimed that the baby was bleeding from the umbilical cord, and that is when Dickinson walked by and threw the infant out of the window. A criminal complaint said that the baby died from “exsanguination from the umbilical stump,”
Dickinson, for her part, told police that she was not aware she was pregnant until she was several months along. She said she had researched abortions but believed it was too late. Dickinson claimed she woke up in pain and gave birth in bed, and that the baby was “deformed” with a larger-than-usual head. She said the baby died, and she then threw him out of the window, claiming she was hallucinating from blood loss.
Both Dickinson and Wooters now face charges of homicide, conspiracy to commit homicide, and a host of misdemeanors. Wooters was also charged with a felony count of second-degree obstruction of law enforcement. The two suspects are being held in jail without bond.