Woman Arrested After Allegedly Trying to Flush Newborn Baby Down IHOP Toilet

A harrowing scene turned tragic at an IHOP in Bowling Green, Kentucky after police received a 911 call about a bleeding woman in the bathroom who witnessed believed may have miscarried. The caller also claimed the woman was attempting to flush the baby down the toilet.

By the time police arrived, the woman had left the scene, but they did find a deceased baby, that appeared to have been newly born, in the toilet. Shaniqua Caldwell, 35, was subsequently found in the parking lot of a Red Roof Inn, per the Bowling Green Daily News.

Caldwell admitted to having been at the IHOP, but denied she had been pregnant. She refused to be evaluated by medics and claimed she’d not had sex in six years. According to WBKO, she also claimed to be related to Michael Jordan and Denzel Washington.

“Based off my interactions with Caldwell, I was concerned with her mental state,” Detective Kyle Scharlow wrote in the citation, per the BGDN. “I also was concerned for her welfare when she refused any medical treatment after likely just giving birth to a child.”

With police believe she posed a possible danger to herself, Caldwell was taken into custody for an emergency mental health evaluation. She could not provide a local address and said she was from New York, but did not offer an address there, either.

She was subsequently released and booked into Warren Country Regional Jail on the Class A misdemeanor charge of Concealing the Birth of an Infant.

In Kentucky, this charge was put into law in 1975 for people suspected of concealing the corpse of a newborn to hide the fact it was born, or prevent determination if it was born dead or alive.

In this case, the baby’s cause of death has not yet been determined, awaiting an autopsy. Dependent on those results, more charges may be possible.

Caldwell is reportedly being held on a $2,500 bond. Police reported they believe the lack of identifying information she provided indicate a strong likelihood she would not show up in court had she just been cited and released.