Jessica Nicole Bradford from Whitmore, California, has been accused of deliberately starving her newborn baby to death and she was arrested after the mummified remains of her baby were found inside a school where she worked.
Jessica Nicole Bradford, 23, is alleged to have abandoned her baby in a vacant building on the campus of Julian Youth Academy, a school for troubled teens.
Her baby lived for four days before dying from lack of food and water.
According to police, Jessica Nicole Bradford kept the pregnancy secret from her family and boyfriend of the last three years.
Jessica Nicole Bradford told police she did not give the baby girl a name as she did not want to feel attached to it.
The mother claimed she thought her daughter was stillborn but admitted to detectives she was alive when she left her alone in an empty room at the Julian Youth Academy.
After the baby girl died Jessica Nicole Bradford hid its corpse in a laundry basket in her room, until a co-worker discovered the body and called police.
The sheriff’s office said the baby was a fully-developed, full-term infant and in a mummified state of decomposition.
“It was shocking at least just to see the baby in the condition and given the circumstances that have been reported to us. it was a shocking case and one that we have not seen in some time,” said Shasta County Sheriff’s Department Det. Brian Jackson.
Jessica Nicole Bradford worked for a programme at the private Christian school called F.A.C.E.S.S, which stands for Fighting Against Child Exploitation and Sexual Slavery.
The mother was seen as a role model to young women in the programme and had helped many girls at the school.
Her friends said they had no idea she was pregnant and said she always wore baggy clothes.
Even her boyfriend of three years had no idea she was carrying a baby.
An arrest warrant for murder revealed that Bradford said she gave birth to the baby on September 19th under a deck near her dorm room so that no one would hear.
An autopsy was performed on the baby’s body at the Shasta County Coroner’s office, but because the case is a homicide the Coroner’s office is not releasing any information.
Jessica Nicole Bradford is being held on a charge of murder on $1 million bond.
