NewsKansas City Public Safety

Actions

Kirksville woman gives birth at work, drowns newborn in toilet

Newborn Drowned-Meatpacking Plant
Posted at 11:39 AM, May 18, 2020
and last updated 2020-05-18 12:39:31-04

MILAN, Mo. — A woman who gave birth in a bathroom at a Missouri meatpacking plant was charged with murder for allegedly leaving her newborn to drown in a toilet.

Makuya Kambamba, 28, of Kirksville, was jailed without bond after being charged Friday with first-degree murder and several other counts in the baby's May 6 death. No attorney is listed for her in online court records.

Investigators said in court documents that Kambamba gave birth in a restroom at the Smithfield Foods plant in Milan, where she works, KTVO-TV reported.

Court papers say she told officers that she saw the infant moving as he was face down in the toilet. Kambamba said didn't check on the baby boy again until about 30 minutes later, when a Smithfield nurse entered the restroom.

An autopsy revealed evidence consistent with a drowning victim.