Two Illinois residents were arrested on Friday and will be charged with desecration of a corpse, after police say investigators found the remains of a prematurely born baby buried in a beer box at a suburban Chicago property.
Nicole Pokrzywa, 36, of Wilmington, and William Cosmen, 38, of Manhattan, both made “incriminating statements” to police about burying Pokrzywa’s infant at a property in Wilmington, the Will County Sheriff’s Office said in a statement.
“Nicole and William indicated that the infant was born in a toilet, and William attempted to dispose of the body by forcing the body down the toilet drain with a plunger,” the sheriff’s office wrote on Facebook.
“Nicole and William realized that the infant’s body would not fit down the drain and left the deceased infant inside of the toilet overnight,” police added.
The infant was later removed from the toilet, wrapped in a plastic bag and green shirt, and buried in a shallow hole, the pair said, according to police.
Detectives and crime scene investigators found the remains in a hole marked with a makeshift headstone, Fox 32 Chicago reports.
On Saturday, the Will County Coroner’s Office conducted an examination of the remains of the infant, which was described as weighing between five and seven pounds at the time of delivery.
A forensic pathologist concluded the female child was between 22 and 27 weeks old at the time she was buried.
Additional testing of the remains will be needed as part of the investigation, given the “level of decomposition of the deceased,” police said.
The pair of suspects were transported to the Will County Adult Detention Facility on Saturday and will be given a notice to appear for an upcoming court date, police said.
Officials described the offense as “non-detainable.”
