Lawyer: No proof baby’s body found in Moline in 1992 was a live birth. Mom charged in death should be released.

By Barb Ickes

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    MOLINE, Illinois (Quad-City Times) — The woman charged with murder last year in the death of “Baby April” in Moline in 1992 is asking to be released from jail before her trial.

Angela Siebke, 48, ultimately was identified by DNA as the mother of a newborn girl found floating in a garbage bag off the Mississippi River shoreline in Moline. She was charged last year with murder and has been held in the Rock Island County Jail on $1 million bond.

But her attorney, Steve Hanna, filed a motion seeking to have Siebke released on her own recognizance, saying the state lacks proof the baby was born alive and was killed by its mother. He is arguing the law requires prosecutors to demonstrate a “likelihood of conviction” in setting bail and a “reasonable likelihood” exists that the burden of proof will not be met.

In a court hearing Thursday, the Rock Island County State’s Attorney’s office said Hanna’s motion for Siebke’s release was “improperly brought” to court. The prosecutor’s office didn’t become aware of the motion and the hearing until seeing a story in the local media on Wednesday evening, according to the state’s response.

Also, the response indicates, an autopsy in 1992 indicated Baby April died as a result of “exposure to cold/asphyxia,” resulting from “infanticide” (killing of a newborn). The autopsy also found the presence of air in the baby girl’s lungs during a float test, which suggests live birth, prosecutors said.

However, the state also acknowledged the mastoid bone (part of the skull) required examination to determine whether the baby was born alive, and the doctor performing the autopsy concluded the case is “undetermined.”

A hearing on the matter of release or bail reduction was continued until Oct. 25.

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