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Norfolk (NE) mother and daughter accused of illegal abortion, burning and burying body

cigaretteman

HR King
May 29, 2001
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A Norfolk woman is facing five criminal charges — including three felonies — alleging she helped her teenage daughter abort, burn and bury her fetus earlier this year.
Jessica Burgess, 41, pleaded not guilty and is awaiting trial in Madison County District Court. Her then-17-year-old daughter Celeste Burgess — who is being tried as an adult — also pleaded not guilty to three charges, including a felony.
And a 22-year-old man accused of helping the two bury the fetus pleaded no contest to a misdemeanor and will be sentenced later this month.
A Norfolk police detective launched his investigation in late April, chasing a tip that Celeste Burgess had miscarried and that she and her mother had buried the body, according to a search warrant affidavit.

The detective obtained her medical records, and determined she’d been more than 23 weeks — or nearly six months — pregnant at the time, and was expected to deliver July 3.

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When he interviewed them a few days later, they told him Celeste Burgess had unexpectedly given birth to her stillborn baby in the shower, in the early morning hours after midnight, court records say.

She woke her mother, and they put the baby’s body in a bag and stowed it in the back of their van, he wrote.
Later — the records don’t say when — they drove a few miles north of town and buried the body, with help from a 22-year-old man.

On April 29, they showed the detective where — on a property owned by the man’s parents. He told investigators the mother and daughter had tried to burn the body before it was buried. And when authorities exhumed it, it showed signs of what the detective called “thermal wounds.”

In early June, the two women were each charged with removing, concealing or abandoning a dead human body, a felony, and a pair of misdemeanors: concealing the death of another person; and false reporting.

But the investigation wasn’t over. A week after the two were charged, the detective served a search warrant on Facebook, to get access to their accounts.
He found messages between them suggesting Jessica Burgess had obtained abortion pills for her daughter, and gave her instructions on how to take them.

“C. Burgess talks about how she can’t wait to get the ‘thing’ out of her body and reaffirms with J. Burgess that they will burn the evidence afterward,” the detective wrote.

A month later, Madison County Attorney Joseph Smith added two more felonies to the charges against Jessica Burgess — for performing or attempting an abortion on a pregnancy at more than 20 weeks, and performing an abortion as a non-licensed doctor.
That was the first time Smith had filed those charges in his 32 years as the county’s prosecutor.

“I don’t think I’ve ever had a case like this,” he said Friday. “Usually, abortions are performed in hospitals, and doctors are involved, and it’s not the type of stuff that occurred in this case.”
The attorney representing Jessica Burgess declined to comment on the case, and her daughter’s attorney did not return a call seeking comment.

 
Why? A felony for having a stillborn baby?

There is evidence that her mother got her abortion drugs and she aborted a baby who was gestated past 20 weeks.

She then conspired with said mother and a 22 year old man to burn and bury the remains.
 
This is disturbing in multiple ways. First, inducing a potentially viable fetus and then trying to set fire to it's body is disturbing, even for those of us who are pro choice. I am perfectly fine with restricting abortion for viable fetuses with no health issues. I do not like a slippery slope of interfering with parents of non viable fetuses or fetuses with anomalies incompatible with life or quality of life's ability to make decisions for their family. All that said, although in this instance it may have uncovered some shady shite, it is also very uncomfortable having someone investigated for having a stillborn baby. It gives credence to the idea that women will be investigated for every complication of pregnancy or pregnancy loss. Which is unnecessarily traumatic and effed up.
 
There is evidence that her mother got her abortion drugs and she aborted a baby who was gestated past 20 weeks.

She then conspired with said mother and a 22 year old man to burn and bury the remains.
This is what your thinking has created. Well done.
 
This is what your thinking has created. Well done.

I'm quite happy with this. To me this shouldn't even be controversial. This fetus was gestated past 20 weeks.

It sounds to me like you want abortion by choice all the way up to the point of birth.
 
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Reactions: Wendy79
This is disturbing in multiple ways. First, inducing a potentially viable fetus and then trying to set fire to it's body is disturbing, even for those of us who are pro choice. I am perfectly fine with restricting abortion for viable fetuses with no health issues. I do not like a slippery slope of interfering with parents of non viable fetuses or fetuses with anomalies incompatible with life or quality of life's ability to make decisions for their family. All that said, although in this instance it may have uncovered some shady shite, it is also very uncomfortable having someone investigated for having a stillborn baby. It gives credence to the idea that women will be investigated for every complication of pregnancy or pregnancy loss. Which is unnecessarily traumatic and effed up.

She was first charged with illegal disposal of remains, in the course of that investigation they discovered evidence that she conspired with her mother to abort this child.
 
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Reactions: Tom Paris
I'm quite happy with this. To me this shouldn't even be controversial. This fetus was gestated past 20 weeks.

It sounds to me like you want abortion by choice all the way up to the point of birth.
Link to me ever saying that? Besides women don’t do that anyway - just change their minds and have abortions at 8 months- so full stop.
 
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The point is we will start seeing a lot more of this. Just like before Roe. There will just be a lot more dead women that didn't need to die. But conservatives don't care. Just like they don't care what happens once the babies are born.

When people break the law they should be arrested. I am happy to see that she and her mother and their accomplice have been arrested, they will now receive a fair trial.
 
The point is we will start seeing a lot more of this. Just like before Roe. There will just be a lot more dead women that didn't need to die. But conservatives don't care. Just like they don't care what happens once the babies are born.
a lot more of woman having abortions at 6 months, then burning the body, and burying the remains? Just FYI Roe v Wade has nothing to do with their mindset and character
 
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