That's my most pressing question too, Trident. You don't get to choose whether they test your hands for gun residue, do you? Why would they not have an OB/GYN have a look at this young woman. She lives within a few miles of excellent services through the Oregon Health and Sciences University. It would sure cut short a lot of heartache if it was determined to be a ruse. And then she could get the psychological help she desperately needs.
I found this:
http://www.registerguard.com/web/updates/27013748-46/swartout-police-defense-birth-dec.html.csp
Lawyers seek to suppress statement
Defense attorneys say their client confessed under illegal pressure from Springfield police
"Lawyers for a Springfield murder suspect asked a judge on Tuesday to prevent jurors from hearing her statement to police that she delivered and then suffocated a baby boy last Oct. 18. Fifteen investigators searched a local landfill for three days but found no infant’s body. Nor does the state have any other physical evidence that Angelica May Swartout gave birth to a son in a restroom at her hotel workplace, as she told detectives during two days of questioning in December, her attorneys argued. They say she falsely confessed under pressure from police and never gave birth...."
and
"...Swartout did not know she was free to end a police interview in a private office behind the front desk where she worked at the Crosslands motel, [Defense attorney] Oldencamp said. Detectives pressed Swartout with questions designed to “elicit incriminating answers” without advising her of her right to remain silent and to have a lawyer present..."
and
"....Springfield police Sgt. David Lewis told [Judge] Chanti that Swartout first told him on Dec. 7 that she’d miscarried a 7½-month fetus into a toilet at work. When he questioned a fetus of that age fitting down a toilet, she began to cry and said she’d delivered a stillborn, full-term son, Lewis said. She said she’d wrapped the child’s body in a sheet and put it in a trash bin. Lane argued in court that detectives didn’t need to advise Swartout of her rights before questioning her that night because they did not yet have reasonable suspicion that a crime had occurred.
and
"....Oldencamp also asserted that an Oregon State Police detective violated polygraph protocols on Dec. 8 by giving Swartout a lie detector test when she reportedly was sleep-deprived, hadn’t eaten since the previous day, had smoked “a lot of pot” that morning and was weeping throughout the examination...."
and
"...In a tape-recorded interview later that day, a sobbing Swartout said she delivered a live child who “squeaked a little bit” and “gave a little gasp but he did not cry” before she suffocated him with a sheet. Chanti did not rule immediately on the motion to suppress the confession, saying she wanted to take more time to review evidence presented by both sides...."
Lots more at link
If Swartout elicited an outpouring of love from her siblings when she discovered herself pregnant, why not continue the ruse and describe a miscarriage or an adoption? Either action would have brought her the empathy she seems to crave. Why kill a child or even admit to killing a child as that would alienate her family and land her in prison? Killing a child in the midst of one of Oregon's largest adoptive families. That's quite the statement. I happen to know Judge Chanti through a common friend. She's a new judge but highly respected and very reasoned in her decisions.
You have to wonder just how much psychological support this woman has gotten in lock-up. I keep thinking that a trained and caring professional could engage with her and get to the truth. They mention her smoking a lot of pot on the morning of her interview. Any possibility that she's frequently high and has some memory problems?
