Emile Weaver hid her pregnancy from her friends at university
WHEN university student Emile Weaver realised she was pregnant, she did everything she could to hide it.
Living in a sorority house at Muskingum University in Ohio, USA, the 21-year-old wore baggy clothes, concealed her stomach with pillows – and continued to party with her friends as usual.
When her friends noticed her gaining weight in autumn of 2014, rumours began to fly – but Emile fiercely denied them all. Instead, she had plans to party her way through her studies, and continued to drink, smoke cannabis and even take part in a high contact dodgeball tournament.
In September 2014, Emile had visited the university health centre to pick up contraception, where she was required to take a pregnancy test. But when it came back positive, she ignored all of the health centre’s calls, texts and letters asking her to attend an appointment.
Instead, she carried on as normal – until April 22 2015, when she sent a text to the boy she thought was her baby’s father, telling him everything had been “taken care of” and there was “no more baby”.
When he pressed her for more information, she explained that she had given birth the day before, but the baby had died due to complications.
However, her web of lies soon fell apart, as that morning, the sorority house manager discovered blood all over the bathroom’s toilet and floor. Assuming it was caused by one of the students’ periods, she sent a message to all of the girls demanding that the mess was cleaned up.
She wrote: “It looks like a murder scene.”
Soon enough, the other sorority girls raised their suspicions – Emile had been behaving oddly, and now blood had been discovered in the bathroom. One housemate even said she’d heard strange noises in the early hours of the morning.
Then, one student decided to check the rubbish bins outside. And it was then that their devastating theory was confirmed – as the student discovered the body of a 6lb 10oz baby girl.
As police began their investigation, Emile told her roommate she’d a miscarriage – a fabrication which she repeated when her mum took her for a check-up. She told staff at the Camden Clark Medical Center in Parkersburg, West Virginia that she suffered cramps and found a four-inch mass of tissue that “looked like a baby”.
But her story didn’t make sense – as doctors could tell she’d carried the baby to full term.
Then, when Emile was questioned by police, her story changed again. This time, she admitted she’d had a baby – but when she left the room to fetch a knife to cut the cord, she returned to find the baby had died.
However, a coroner reported that the baby girl had been suffocated when Emile put her in a plastic bag, before leaving her outside with the rubbish. A post-mortem examination also revealed that the baby’s father wasn’t the boy who Emile had texted.
Emile was arrested and held on a $1 million (around £760,000) bail – and as news of her crime reached the local community, people were left horrified by what she’d done.
Even more tragically, the state of Ohio had introduced a law which allows mothers to anonymously give up their babies at a fire station, police station or hospital within 30 days of being born – so there was no need for the baby girl, who was named Addison Grace and given a funeral, to die.
Initially, Emile pleaded not guilty on the grounds of insanity – a claim which was denied. Then, she told the court she didn’t know she was pregnant and that she was in denial.
Emile tried to explain to the court: “I said ‘no’ so many times that in my mind none of this was happening.”
But her friends testified against her, insisting she knew and was making an active effort to hide her changing figure.
In court, it was even revealed that Emile had tried to cause a miscarriage by drinking, doing contact sports and taking labour inducing medicine.
The prosecutor said: “She wanted Addison dead.
“Whether it was during her pregnancy or after birth, it didn’t matter. She didn’t want the baby.”
Finally, in May this year, the jury found Emile guilty of aggravated murder, abuse of a corpse and two counts of tampering with evidence. As a result, she was given a life sentence with no chance of parole – a consequence which the judge said reflected her lack of remorse for her unforgivable actions.
The judge told her: “You tried over and over to take that baby’s life.
“It was an inconvenience, and you took care of it.”
However, Emile still plans to appeal her sentence. She said: “Words cannot express how sorry I am to my beautiful daughter Addison.
“I ask God for forgiveness, and today, all I can do is ask for all of yours.”
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