Polish police hold woman in dead babies investigation

on 02/11/2012 15:17:17

A Polish woman has been arrested on suspicion of killing at least five of her newborn babies.

Maria Kudyba, a prosecutor in northeast Poland, said the suspect, identified only as 41-year-old Beata Z, will be held for at least three months during an investigation.

She said the widowed woman gave birth to eight babies between 1998 and 2012, but only two remain alive.

Four bodies have been found on the woman's farm in Hipolitowo village. Investigators are searching for a fifth body and trying to determine the fate of the sixth baby.

Social workers alerted police when they saw no baby born after Beata Z appeared to have been pregnant.

Investigators refused to speculate about possible motives in the case. Poland has a strict anti-abortion law.