Iowa Couple Murdered Newborn Girl Because They Worried Cops Would Learn She Had Meth In Her System: Police

A couple in Iowa is accused of killing their newborn baby girl because they were worried about police finding drugs in her system, authorities claimed.

Brandon Thoma and Taylor Blaha were each charged with first-degree murder in connection with the death of the child, Kayleen Lee, Our Quad Cities reported.

Thoma faces an additional charge of abuse of a corpse.

According to court documents obtained by the station, Blaha gave birth to Kayleen Lee at the couple’s apartment in Fort Dodge on Nov. 16, and the parents allegedly drowned the baby in a bathtub a short time later.

The court documents allege Blaha and Thoma had planned to give the child to a relative to adopt, but killed the baby because they feared the girl’s crying would draw neighbors’ attention and they would phone police. The couple, the legal papers state, didn’t want authorities to take their 2-year-old son from their custody if they found out the newborn had methamphetamine in her system.

An arrest affidavit states Thoma allegedly gave Blaha the drug to deal with the pain of the home delivery, WLS-TV reported.

“Thoma and Blaha have both confirmed ... that once Kayleen was born, Thoma cut the umbilical cord with a pair of scissors that was present within their apartment and shortly thereafter cut additional sections of the cord to be kept to remember the baby,” the affidavit states.

Investigators suspect Thoma is responsible for disposing of his daughter’s body, which has not been located despite extensive searches, including at a local landfill, police said.