Baby abandoned in ditch in April removed from new home after caregiver charged
Aug. 7—Orion Township — A five-month-old baby boy who police say was abandoned by his mother in a drainage ditch in April was recently removed from the care of a female relative after the relative was arrested for felonious assault of her husband with a knife.
Officials confirmed Friday the infant is now in temporary foster care while the child's mother is being treated for mental problems and substance abuse. Custody by the most recent caregiver, Katie Manion, 37, of Orion Township was discontinued after a June 29 incident at her home on Viefield.
According to a police report, Oakland County Sheriff's deputies were dispatched to the Viefield address after a victim — identified as Manion's husband — made a 911 call and told dispatchers his wife was intoxicated and had threatened him with a knife. No one was injured in the incident.
Manion was charged with felonious assault with a weapon and released on a $2,500 bond pending a Sept. 7 preliminary examination in Rochester Hills 52-3 District Court. Bond conditions include no contact with the victim or any return to the address; no use of alcohol or drugs and she must submit to testing and counseling.
There were two other children, ages 9 and 13, in the home at the time of the incident, according to the report. The older child took the baby boy into another room for its safety, investigators said.
Undersheriff Michael McCabe confirmed deputies were involved in an arrest but referred questions to the Oakland County Prosecutor's Office.
The boy was hospitalized on April 21 and treated for hypothermia after apparently having been abandoned by his birth mother in a wooded area. In that incident, deputies received 911 calls around 8:35 a.m. on April 21 by residents near Waldon and Joslyn roads who reported a woman hiding in the bushes and ringing doorbells in the neighborhood. The woman was distraught and said someone was chasing her with guns before fleeing the area.
Deputies began searching the area when they received a call from nearby a staff member at Waldon Middle School who reported a distraught woman pounding on locked doors.
Deputies interviewed the 37-year-old woman and learned she had a young infant and began searching a one-mile grid between the woman's home and other relatives in the area. Several deputies and a K-9 unit began a track and the baby was located face down on the ground on the banks of a drainage ditch. He was breathing but suffering from hypothermia and deputies began to warm him, removed his cold wet sleeper and wrapped him in warm blankets. The infant, described as weighing 16 pounds at the time, was taken to an area hospital by the Orion Township EMS unit for further medical treatment. Child Protection Services was notified of the incident and was expected to pursue a child abuse charge, sheriff's investigators said earlier this year.
The mother has been hospitalized for unknown reasons, deputies said.
Investigators said an attorney representing the woman discussed the case with the Oakland County prosecutors and made arrangements to have the boy placed with a relative while his mother was examined and treated. The mother's whereabouts are unclear and The Detroit News has asked the prosecutor's office several times about the status of the case and what, if any, charges she is expected to face.
"This was clearly a mental health issue," said David Williams, the county's chief assistant prosecuting attorney. "We know that criminal charges and jail do nothing to treat mental illness. There are attempts being made to do that. We know she has a history of mental problems, including an incident in Royal Oak where she was standing out in the middle of a road.
"Again this is clearly a mental health issue," Williams reiterated. He would not be more specific.
The woman's attorney could not be reached for comment on the case Friday.
Williams said he did not know if the woman was ordered to have a forensic examination — routine in such cases — or was permitted to seek treatment on her own. He said Child Protective Services would have been involved in the case. The mother's caseworker could not be reached Friday.
Williams said he was unaware of the June 29 incident involving Manion.
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