Midlands couple charged with neglect in death of newborn baby
A South Carolina couple faces neglect charges in connection with an infant’s death in Sumter County after authorities received conflicting information, according to a news release Friday.
Sumter police said a woman at an apartment complex told them she delivered a baby several months prematurely and the child was unresponsive at the time of birth.
But an autopsy report found that the birth was at full-term and the child was alive “for some time without receiving aid,’ police said.
Neither parent sought medical attention or notified first responders after the child’s birth, nor did the parents seek medical attention for the child, the Sumter news release said. Police were called to the scene July 31.
Melissa Nicole Bautch, 21, is charged with homicide by child neglect, while Brandon Sean Hostetler, 21, is charged with unlawful neglect. Both were booked Thursday night, the Sumter release said. The news release said the father was not at home at the time of the child’s birth, but was told by the mother and returned home.
Efforts to reach the couple or an attorney to speak on their behalf were unsuccessful Friday.
