Prosecutors: Mitin left second baby in gas station dumpster

LANSING - An Okemos woman charged with murder in the death of her first baby left her second newborn in a dumpster after giving birth while free on bond, according to court records.

Details of how authorities believe Melissa Mitin, 26, disposed of the second baby's body are contained in a motion prosecutors filed last week.

The motion came more than two months after prosecutors asked to adjourn Mitin's trial, which had been scheduled for November, because they said they had new circumstantial evidence that her second child was dead. That motion didn't include details of the circumstantial evidence.

Prosecutors say Mitin killed her newborn daughter in 2013 by putting her face-down into a wastebasket while she and her family were staying at a friend’s home.

She was charged in that death in May 2014. Three months later, she was pregnant again, unbeknownst to authorities handling the murder case. That pregnancy was publicly revealed during a hearing in January 2015. The second infant — a boy — has not been found.

Ingham County Prosecuting Attorney Stuart Dunnings III declined to comment on the motion because it contains evidence that hasn't been deemed admissible.

Prosecutors filed a second motion last week, seeking to add a first-degree child abuse charge related to the first baby. Dunnings said new information received from expert witnesses and a review of the case supports the added charge.

Mitin is currently charged with murder and concealing the death of a newborn child in the death of her first baby. She was found competent to stand trial in February of last year.

Police: Mitin�s second child is dead

She faces up to life in prison if convicted.

Dunnings said there haven't been charges related to Mitin's second baby because proving beyond a reasonable doubt that the child was born alive and that Mitin caused its death could complicate the charges related to the first baby.

Frank Reynolds, Mitin's attorney, couldn't be reached Friday for comment.

Mitin's bond was revoked in 2015 after authorities learned of the second birth, and she was remanded to the Ingham County Jail. While in custody, she befriended Mariah Haughton, 18, who was awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges, prosecutors said.

Haughton pleaded guilty to human trafficking and transporting of a female for prostitution in June and was sentenced to four to 20 years in prison on both counts. She didn't ask for a deal in exchange for her testimony, Dunnings said.

Mitin shared details of the first and second births with Haughton, prosecutors said in their motion last week, and told her she gave birth to a stillborn baby the week before Christmas 2014. Mitin then put the baby in a green bag she'd been given with a birthday present and left it in a dumpster at an Okemos gas station, according to court records.

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Michigan State Police forensic scientists were able to find a "substantial amount of blood" in Mitin's bedroom, including "a large dried pool concealed by a rug," according to court records. Prosecutors also said a credit card belonging to Mitin's father, which she often used, was used at the gas station Dec. 18, 2014. A friend also confirmed she'd given Mitin a birthday present in a green bag.

Earlier that month, a doctor told Mitin she was 35 weeks pregnant, prosecutors said. Mitin denied knowing she was pregnant before then, but had felt some cramping and told the doctor she and the baby's father used condoms "all the time," according to court records. At a doctor's appointment a week later, Mitin said she thought she was going to keep the baby, but declined breastfeeding and testing information and refused to look at an ultrasound image of the baby, according to court records.

Okemos woman competent to stand trial in baby�s death

She scheduled and rescheduled several doctor's appointments before telling the doctor's office that she had given birth to the second baby Jan. 5, 2015 at a local hospital under the name Violet Miller, which was determined to be a lie, according to court records.

The man Mitin told authorities was the father of both babies flew from Lansing to O'Hare Airport in Chicago Jan. 2, 2015, before boarding a flight to Abu Dhabi and then home to Saudi Arabia, according to court records. Surveillance video and records show that he didn't have a baby with him on the trip, prosecutors said.

Hearings on the motions that prosecutors filed are scheduled for Feb. 5 in Ingham County Circuirt Court Judge James Jamo's courtroom. No trial date has been set.

Contact Matt Mencarini at (517) 267-1347 or mmencarini@lsj.com. Follow him on Twitter @MattMencarini.