Harlee Lewis case: Mom made up "kidnap" of baby found dead in diaper box, cops say
CHESTERFIELD COUNTY, S.C. -- Charges have been filed against a South Carolina mother who investigators say made up a story that her infant daughter, later found dead, was abducted. Breanna Lewis is the prime suspect in the death of 1-year-old Harlee Lewis, whose body was found "hidden inside a diaper box" Tuesday afternoon, two hours after the woman called police and reported her missing.
Sheriff Jay Brooks said just after 4 p.m. that the girl was found deceased in the diaper box in a field about 1,000 yards from the family's Chesterfield County home. There is no word on how she may have died.
Breanna Lewis was initially charged with filing a false police report. On Wednesday afternoon, she was also charged with a count of improper disposal of human remains, reports CBS affiliate WBTV.
Chesterfield County Sheriff Jay Brooks says Breanna Lewis, 19, initially reported that someone attacked her and took the child from her arms as she checked the mail Tuesday afternoon. She told deputies that a man in an SUV pulled up, jumped out of his vehicle, punched her in the head several times, took her daughter and fled the scene, the station reported. She reportedly described the suspect as a white man wearing a hat, coat and a single black glove.
Lewis had severe bruising when deputies arrived, the station reports.
But after authorities found the child's body, they said they believed there was never a kidnapping, and they took Lewis into custody. Brooks said they believe the bruising was from an earlier car wreck. Lewis is pictured in a mugshot with a black eye.
Investigators haven't said what they really think happened to the girl.
Brooks told WBTV's Kristi O'Connor that Lewis admitted to deputies that she made up the story about the child being abducted, but said she can't remember what happened afterwards because she blacked out.
A major who found the child's body said the girl had been placed in a plastic garbage bag and then in the diaper box, O'Connor reports.
Lewis hasn't been charged in connection to the girl's death. An autopsy has been completed, but the results have not been released.