Woman accused of murdering newborn

A 22-year-old Rathdrum woman who told police she did not know she was pregnant when she gave birth early Tuesday is in jail on $1 million bail for allegedly murdering her child.

Kootenai County investigators were alerted this week that Elizabeth B. Keyes was taken to Kootenai Health after a friend thought she had a miscarriage.

The dead child was also taken to the hospital, where health professionals told police the baby was probably alive at birth and was likely strangled.

“Once detectives arrived on scene, the evidence showed that the deceased baby may have been alive at birth and the birth mother was responsible for the baby’s death,” according to a press release.

Detectives said Keyes was a Rathdrum service worker and franchise manager. She told investigators she did not know she was pregnant until giving birth, thinking she was bloated and suffering from cramps.

After the child died in the bathroom, she placed it in a plastic bag and set the bag on the porch of the residence on the 700 block of West Lund Street where she lived. She did not want people to know she was pregnant or that she had given birth, she reportedly told detectives.

An autopsy revealed the baby boy had been strangled, according to a report in court records.

Keyes agreed to be transferred to Kootenai Behavioral Health for evaluation, according to a report.

She was later arrested on a warrant and booked into the Kootenai County jail Thursday afternoon on one count of first-degree murder.

An April 30 probable cause hearing is set in Coeur d’Alene’s First District Court.