FORSYTH COUNTY, Ga. — New information is surfacing about a mother accused of tying her newborn in a plastic bag and leaving her in the woods to die.
It happened in Forsyth County nearly four years ago. Deputies said three sisters heard what they initially thought was an animal in the woods. They told their father it sounded more like a baby. They convinced their father to go into the woods with a flashlight and search in the middle of the night.
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Paramedics saved the baby just before a thunderstorm rolled through the city.
Channel 2′s Tom Regan attended a news conference at the sheriff’s office Friday where Forsyth County Sheriff Ron Freeman said deputies arrested Karima Jiwani and charged her with Criminal Attempt to Commit Murder, Cruelty to Children in the First Degree, Aggravated Assault, Reckless Abandonment, and more.
“We’ve had a major breakthrough in what’s known to many as the “Baby India Case,” said Freeman.
He said after thousands of hours of surveillance and questioning; detectives tracked the mother to a large Cumming subdivision.
“Totally unfathomable,” said neighbor Traci Schefdore.
The sheriff said ten months ago, new DNA evidence led detectives to the baby’s biological father. Then, thousands of hours of surveillance and questioning led them to the mother Thursday.
Property records show she paid nearly half a million dollars for the home in April 2019. That was two months before deputies said she gave birth. Freeman said she had the baby in a car and drove around for a significant amount of time with the newborn before tying her in a plastic bag and leaving her in the woods.
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“This child was tied up in a plastic bag and thrown into the woods like a bag of trash,” said Freeman. “I can’t understand that.”
That was about a mile from the home Jiwani had just purchased. The sheriff’s office confirmed she lived there with her husband and three other children.
The sheriff said no evidence suggests the father knew about the pregnancy or crime. However, he noted Jiwani has a history of hiding her pregnancies and went to great lengths to conceal this.
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The sheriff said child protective services is evaluating the condition of the other three children now.
He said “Baby India” is nearly four and thriving with a new family.
“Telling my team, I said, man, isn’t it going to be cool to watch this little girl grow up and watch her do some great things in spite of these beginnings,” said Freeman.
Jiwani will make her first appearance at the Forsyth County Jail on Saturday morning.
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