Fetus found in Tulsa's sewer system

Tulsa child crisis investigators are searching for a woman, who flushed her fetus down the toilet. <br><br>City of Tulsa workers found the fetus while cleaning out a sewer trap Wednesday morning. News

Wednesday, June 18th 2003, 12:00 am

By: News On 6

Tulsa child crisis investigators are searching for a woman, who flushed her fetus down the toilet.

City of Tulsa workers found the fetus while cleaning out a sewer trap Wednesday morning. News on 6 crime reporter Lori Fullbright says this case is a mystery so far and a sad mystery at that.

City workers clean this sewer trap at the water treatment plant at 8520 East Mohawk each Wednesday. Imagine their shock, when they found a tiny baby inside it Wednesday.

The medical examiner estimates the baby was under 20 weeks old. It was only eight inches long and was fully formed, but hadn't developed far enough for them to tell what sex it was. There were no signs of obvious trauma that would indicate some type of forced abortion.

Tulsa Police Child Crisis Unit Sgt Liz Woolen, "Usually in cases like this, we find it's a teenager who panicked or someone who didn't know they were pregnant and had a baby."

The medical examiner says since the fetus wasn't viable and there are no obvious injuries, this may likely be a case of a person who miscarried and didn't properly dispose of the fetus.

Investigators would still like to talk to the mother to make sure she's okay and to hear her explanation for why this happened.