HIGHLANDS RANCH, CO (KMGH/CNN) - Police say they found the body of a newborn girl outside of a home.
Authorities are charging the baby's mother with first-degree murder.
A woman found a newborn girl naked and lifeless in her back yard.
The Douglas County Sheriff's office won't say how or why the baby was dropped off but are charging the baby's mother, 24-year-old Camille Wasinger-Konrad, with first-degree murder.
Chief Steve Johnson said Wasinger-Konrad lived in a room she rented in a house next to the one where she allegedly dropped off the baby.
"The child was found in the backyard on the porch, no coverings, nothing, completely naked and, like I said, with the umbilical cord and everything still attached," he said.
Neighbor Eric Updyke lives a few doors down from where the gruesome discovery was made.
"The street was blocked off by a large cop car," he said. "And as a father like I say my heart's breaking."
It's a heart-wrenching discovery that's leaving many asking why.
"Research shows that for every baby that's found dead, there are at least two more that were abandoned and never found," said Linda Prudhomme, executive director of the Colorado Safe Haven for Newborns.
She said the tragedy sheds light on the importance of raising awareness on the Safe Haven law that allows parents to drop off their newborns at fire stations and hospitals, no questions asked.
"The Safe Haven law gives these desperate women a safe alternative. They have the opportunity to protect their secret and their baby," Prudhomme said.
It's an opportunity the newborn girl never got.
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