Seven dead babies found in Utah garage

The gruesome case has raised a series of questions about how the killings occurred despite Megan Huntsman carrying out what neighbours seemed like a normal existence.

PLEASANT GROVE, UTAH // The discovery of seven dead babies in cardboard boxes in a Utah garage has police desperately seeking answers from the mother and other family members about how such a tragedy unfolded over a decade with no one noticing.

Megan Huntsman, 39, is accused of killing her babies after giving birth to the children between 1996 and 2006, investigators said. She was booked on Sunday into the Utah County Jailwith six counts of murder.

The gruesome case has raised a series of questions about how the killings occurred despite Ms Huntsman carrying out what neighbours seemed like a normal existence. Police declined to comment on a motive and what Ms Huntsman said during an interview with investigators.

Her estranged husband made the discovery while cleaning out the garage after recently getting out of prison, and authorities do not believe he was aware of the killings.

Police Capt Michael Roberts said officers responded to a call from him on Saturday about a dead infant and then they found the six other bodies.

Family and neighbours identified the estranged husband as Darren West, who has been in prison on drug-related charges.

Capt Roberts said police believe Mr West and Ms Huntsman were together when the babies were born.

“We don’t believe he had any knowledge of the situation,” Capt Roberts said.

Asked how the man could not have known about the situation, Capt Roberts replied, “That’s the million-dollar question. Amazing.”

The babies’ bodies were sent to the Utah medical examiner’s office for tests, including one to determine the cause of death. DNA samples taken from the suspect and her husband will determine definitively whether the two are the parents, as investigators believe.

Ms Huntsman also has three daughters — one teenager and two young adults — who live at the house.

Neighbours in the middle-class neighbourhood of mostly older homes just south of Salt Lake City say they were shocked by the accusations and perplexed that the woman’s older children still living in the home did not know their mother was pregnant or notice anything suspicious.

Police said Mr West made the grisly discovery at the house owned by his parents in a city of about 35,000 people at the foot of snow-capped mountains. It is a nondescript, newer home with a brick facade and a star ornament hanging by the door.

Several police cars blocked the entrance to the house on Sunday evening as officers milled about with the belongings from the garage strewn across the front lawn.

Late on Sunday, Mr West’s family issued a statement saying they were in a “state of shock and confusion”.

“We are mourning this tragic loss of life and we are trying to stay strong and help each other through this awful event,” the statement said before asking for privacy.

Mr West pleaded guilty in federal court in 2005 to two counts of possessing chemicals intended to be used in manufacturing methamphetamine, court records show. In August 2006, he was sentenced to nine years in prison, but appealed the term three times. He maintained his innocence and said he never had any intention to manufacture meth.

* Associated Press