A YouTube vlogger and makeup artist from North Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, has been arrested for the deaths of two of her newborn babies who died within 13 months of each other. Thirty-year-old Alyssa Anne Dayvault is the mother of two other young girls, ages six and eight, and has been charged with two counts of homicide by child abuse and two counts of destruction, desecration or removal of human remains.
Mugshot via J. Reuben Long Detention Center
(http://sheriff.horrycounty.org/Detention/DailyBookingsandReleases.aspx)
According to WBTW News 13, Dayvault was admitted to Grand Strand Regional Hospital on December 5 with heavy vaginal bleeding. As doctors examined her, they discovered a placenta and umbilical cord but there was no baby attached. When they questioned her about the pregnancy, she denied having been pregnant.
Hospital staff searched her medical records and found that on November 4, 2017, Dayvault was in the North Strand ER in North Myrtle Beach and that at that time she was about 36-38 weeks pregnant, according to WMBF News. When they asked her about that pregnancy, she denied that one as well.
After the hospital called the police, Dayvault admitted to authorities that she had recently given birth to a baby boy at home.
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According to the warrants from the North Myrtle Beach Police Department: “The defendant stated that the child was born alive and took multiple gasping breaths after having been born. The defendant further stated that she failed to secure medical treatment and did not personally take action to attempt to preserve/save the infant’s life. The defendant than disposed of the child’s body in a waste receptacle at her residence in NMB without seeking help or notifying authorities.”
Dayvault also admitted to police that she had thrown her newborn baby girl into the garbage at her apartment complex in November of 2017. Authorities discovered medical records from prenatal visits that indicate the baby girl had a healthy heartbeat during the third trimester of the pregnancy in November of 2017. Her body has not been recovered.
Dayvault charges
Dayvault’s boyfriend Chris Matechen did not initially believe police about the killing of the babies but had no choice when they told him that they had found the baby boy’s body in the garbage bin at the couple’s home. The baby boy was taken for an autopsy and police are searching the home for any lab reports regarding pregnancy, childbirth, or abortion as well as any bloody articles of clothing.
According to The Sun, Dayvault remains in jail at J. Reuben Long Detention Center after bail was denied.
“[…] the hardest part is thinking about that baby girl that no one knew of,” Matechen told WIS News 10. “I go over to Cherry Grove Commons every day and I drop a flower in front of the dumpster.”
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South Carolina has Safe Haven laws for women who are unable to care for their newborns. Any child no older than 30 days can be voluntarily left at a designated safe haven location and the mother cannot be charged with a crime. Safe haven locations in South Carolina include hospitals, hospital outpatient facilities, a police station, a fire station, an emergency medical services station, or even any staffed house of worship during hours that the building is staffed.
In recent years, infanticide has become a point of interest among pro-abortion organizations with NARAL and other groups throwing their support behind Purvi Patel, who was imprisoned for attempting an illegal abortion and killing her baby. Ethicists have even compared infanticide to abortion, stating that they are both one and the same – the killing of a human child.
