Mom drowned baby, court records say
Carol Sowers
The Arizona Republic
May. 2, 2007 12:00 AM
A Scottsdale mother who held her newborn under water until the girl stopped moving says she didn't know she was pregnant until just before giving birth, according to court records.
Cynthia Joyce Tureman, 28, told Scottsdale police she was trying to hide the pregnancy from her husband.
So she wrapped the baby in a plastic bag, stowed it in the trunk of her car and took her other three children with her to drop the newborn in a trash bin between two pumps at a gas station, according to a police report filed in Maricopa County Superior Court. advertisement
Tureman told Scottsdale police that she gave birth in a bathtub filled with 12 inches of water in the master bathroom of her home in the 900 block of North 87th Place. She was booked Friday on suspicion of first-degree murder. She is being held without bond in a Maricopa County jail.
The court document gave this account:
Tureman told police that she suddenly felt cramping and pressure on Friday morning. About 7 a.m., Tureman filled a bathtub with a foot of water, measuring the depth with her hands.
When the baby girl emerged, Tureman cut the umbilical cord with the scissors she used to trim her bangs.
The infant reached her arms out to her mother.
But Tureman didn't reach back.
Instead, the young mother held her newborn under water for five minutes until the baby's tiny arms stopped moving.
Tureman told police that she killed the baby, saying, "Yeah, because I left it in the water."
After the birth, Tureman wrapped the baby in a towel and left her in the bathroom trash can. Later, she moved her to a garbage can outside of her house.
But 12 hours later, Tureman was nervous with the dead baby so close to her home.
She placed the 5- to 6-pound bundle in a plastic bag and stowed it in the trunk of her car. She loaded her three children into the car, and they stopped for water at a Wal-Mart.
From there, Tureman drove to the Chevron Station at Pima and Chaparral roads. Tureman filled her car with gas, then dropped the dead baby into a trash can between the pumps, where Scottsdale police later found her.
A service station surveillance camera showed her dropping the plastic bag into the garbage.
Scottsdale police began the investigation Friday after an employee of Soundwerks, 2001 N. Scottsdale Road, found a bloody mass in a bathroom trash can at 6:30 p.m.
Tureman had gone to Soundwerks on Friday morning to pick up her husband, Dustin, who was having an alarm installed in his car. The employee said Tureman was the only woman at the store that morning. The employee called Scottsdale police.
A nurse confirmed that the mass was afterbirth.
Tureman told police she drowned her daughter because she didn't want to lose her husband and her other children.
Her husband told police he had a vasectomy five years ago. Tureman said she was sure that he would accuse her of having an affair.
Tureman, who is scheduled for a court appearance Monday in Maricopa County Superior Court, told police that she didn't look to see if the baby was a boy or a girl.
She told the police she didn't want to know.
