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UPDATE @ 11:08 a.m. (Oct. 21): Heather Shaw appeared in Clark County Municipal Court Friday morning. She pleaded not guilty to a charge of child endangering and her bond was set at $1,000.
UPDATE @ 9:15 p.m. (Oct. 20): Heather Shaw, accused of leaving her baby boy with a stranger early Thursday, is to be in Clark County Municipal Court on Friday morning on a charge of child endangering.
She was arrested after an interview with Springfield Police Division detectives.
Shaw, 31, told police she left her baby with a woman who lives in the 700 block of Sherman Avenue because the woman was going to be hired as a babysitter, Detective Sandy Fent told News Center 7 photographer Eric Higgenbotham.
Fent said the woman at the Sherman Avenue address identified Shaw for police.
Shaw, in handcuffs as she was walked to booking at the Clark County Jail, said the woman on Sherman Avenue “was supposed to start being my babysitter.”
Shaw also said she has two older boys in addition to the baby, who now is in the custody of Clark County Children Services.
UPDATE @ 6:01 p.m.: Police are now saying they will file a criminal charge against the woman believed to the abandoned baby's mother.
UPDATE @ 5:48 p.m.: The woman believed to be the mother of the abandoned baby is being interviewed by Springfield police.
UPDATE @ 5:13 p.m.: A baby boy abandoned early Thursday was left behind when a woman, who let three adults and the baby into her home, kicked the adults out because she caught two of them engaging in a sex act on her couch, Springfield police said.
According to an inter-office police division memo, the 24-year-old woman told police a male acquaintance, a second black male and a white female came to her home on Sherman Avenue at 1 a.m. with the child, who was in a car seat.
The woman said it was raining, so she let them in.
She asked the female if she had a change of clothes for the baby, who was very wet. The female kept “nodding off” while she tried to change the boy, the woman told police.
The woman, who has young children, offered to change the baby, going upstairs to get dry clothes. When she returned, she told police she saw the female and the black male engaging in a sex act on her couch.
The woman said she told all of them to leave and that she would take care of the baby until the female returned in the morning. The woman said she feared for the child’s safety “because they were all intoxicated,” according to the memo.
When no one returned to pick up the baby, the woman called police. That was about 12:30 p.m. She said she met the acquaintance via Facebook and doesn’t know his address or phone number. She said she believes he’s 29.
She said the female is in her mid-20s, has burgundy shoulder-length hair, is about 5 foot 6 inches tall and about 250 pounds.
The woman said she believed the black man is in his 50s and has a gray beard.
The baby is believed to be biracial, about 10 months old and has black hair and brown eyes. He is in the custody of the family and children services division, Clark County Department of Jobs & Family Services.
FIRST REPORT
Springfield police are looking for the parents of a baby who was left with a stranger and abandoned at a residence in the 700 block of Sherman Avenue early this morning.
The Clark County Department of Job & Family Services has the boy now, according to police.
We are working to bring you more on this developing report.