Woman Gets Probation For Dropping Baby To Her Death

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A woman in Chicago who dropped her baby daughter to her death from an 8th-floor window in Uptown so her parents would not know she was pregnant, pleaded guilty and was sentenced to 4 years’ probation.

Mubashra Uddin, who was 19 when she was charged with first-degree murder in 2015, pleaded guilty to involuntary manslaughter, says the Cook County state’s attorney’s office spokeswoman Tandra Simonton.

Judge Carol Howard sentenced Uddin to 48 months’ probation and she was also ordered her to pay a $579 fine. She was given credit for 603 days served in the Cook County Jail.

On Nov. 11, 2015, the newborn was found at 11:15 p.m. in the yard of the building where the Uddin family lived in the 800 block of West Eastwood, says Chicago Police.

Uddin had reportedly dropped the baby from the window shortly after giving birth.

The naked, bloody, but still-breathing baby girl was found in a grassy area by a neighbor, who wrapped her in his shirt and blankets, then called the paramedics. The baby was taken to Weiss Memorial Hospital, where she died about 90 minutes later.

Assistant State’s Attorney Patrick Turnock said the baby suffered skull fractures, a spinal fracture, broken left shoulder, fractured left and right ribs, and a lacerated aorta, as well as damage to other internal organs. An autopsy found that she died of multiple blunt force injuries and ruled her death a homicide.

At subsequent court hearings, Uddin’s lawyers said she was overwhelmed by the pressure of raising a baby as an unwed mother in a pious immigrant family.

“At that moment she probably wasn’t thinking and she cracked … because the Mubashra I know wouldn’t do something like this if she was in right state of mind,” Uddin’s childhood friend, “Nina O,” wrote in a letter to Cook County Judge James Brown.

“Standing before you is someone who is heartbroken and sad. … She is a confused, older teenager,” her attorney Barry Sheppard said at her bond hearing. “She’s extremely contrite. She’s saddened. She’s been crying.”

However Judge Brown said, “Dropping a baby out of an eighth-story window to its eventual death is exceedingly evil and exceedingly cruel,” and ordered Uddin held without bond. Last year, her bond was reduced to $275,000 and she was released on bail, but subject to electronic monitoring.

Uddin, a Muslim of Pakistani descent, hid the pregnancy from her parents as she thought they wouldn’t approve of the baby, Turnock said.

The only people who knew about the pregnancy were her boyfriend (who her parents didn’t approve of) and another friend. She hid the pregnancy by wearing baggy clothes and never sought prenatal care.

Uddin gave birth to a 7-pound, 11-ounce girl in her room while her 10-year-old sister slept in the same room, Turnock said.

Minutes later, Uddin heard her mother approaching the room, so she opened the window, held the baby out and released her.

Police found blood on the floor and a window in the bedroom, blood on the toilet, bloody sheets, bloody scissors allegedly used to cut the umbilical cord, and clothes that had been washed, prosecutors said.

Uddin first denied the pregnancy, but later made incriminating statements on tape, according to prosecutors.

Sheppard said that while Uddin was from a religiously conservative background, it doesn’t mean her parents don’t love her. They support her “100 percent,” the attorney said.

Uddin’s parents never spoke about the matter, but appeared in court to support their daughter, the attorney said.

Uddin received treatment for depression in Jail, according to Sheppard.