DENTON -- A Guatemalan teen-ager who faces a first-degree murder charge in the Feb. 1 death of her newborn son was ordered held without bail yesterday after an assistant state medical examiner testified at a hearing that the death was a homicide caused by drowning or asphyxiation.
Seventeen-year-old Erminia Escalante-Berduo, who entered the country illegally shortly before Christmas and moved in with relatives in a trailer park near Marydel in rural Caroline County, delivered her baby in a toilet, then placed the child in plastic grocery bags, investigators say.
"The infant was born alive, the infant definitely had breathed air," said Dr. Margarita Korell, the state pathologist who conducted the autopsy. "The infant was 30 to 32 weeks gestation, a premature baby, but a viable child."
Escalante-Berduo, who is also charged with second-degree murder, manslaughter, first-degree assault, second-degree assault and child abuse, sat impassively through a five-hour hearing yesterday, listening intently as interpreter Delia Gnall translated questions and testimony into Spanish.
According to Sgt. Nancy Runnels, an investigator with the Caroline sheriff's department, Escalante-Berduo said that she left her job at a Kent County egg-packing plant, returning to the trailer she shared with her aunt and uncle, Flora Perez-Diaz and Jaime Escalante, about 10 a.m. Feb. 1. After locking herself in the bathroom, Escalante-Berduo delivered the baby about noon, the investigator said she was told.
"She said she saw the baby in the toilet and that the baby yelped and began to move around in the water," Runnels testified. "She said she just stood there for a few minutes, then removed the baby and placed the baby and afterbirth in a plastic bag on the floor."
Perez-Diaz, said she did not know what was wrong with her niece, but summoned a family friend, asking him to drive the teen-ager to a clinic after seeing Escalante-Berduo's clothes covered in blood.
When Escalante-Berduo refused to seek medical attention, the friend drove to a Talbot County chicken-processing plant to pick up Escalante-Berduo's uncle, who called the Rev. Chris LaBarge, a Roman Catholic priest who ministers to the large Hispanic community in Marydel.
An emergency medical crew arrived at the trailer nearly two hours after the child's birth, said Linda L. Frechette, the emergency medical technician who saw the baby first. The child's umbilical cord had not been cut or tied and was still attached to the placenta, she said.
Escalante-Berduo was treated at Easton Memorial Hospital, where she was questioned by Runnels twice -- at about 7: 45 p.m., then again from 10: 45 p.m. to 12: 05 a.m. after the teen-ager had been advised of her rights.
The interviews were conducted through an interpreter who works at the hospital, Runnels said.
No trial date has been set. Church leaders from the Roman Catholic Diocese of Wilmington who contend that the teen-ager is not responsible for the baby's death said they will continue to support Escalante-Berduo.
"You can bet we will be there," said Sister Francisca Mota, a member of the Hispanic Ministry Team. "I realize that only probable cause had to be shown today, but this does not seem right."
Pub Date: 3/26/99