A pregnant fourteen-year-old girl secretly delivered her baby with a
pair of scissors in the family bathroom before throttling the boy to
death and hiding the body in a shoe box.
Cassidy Goodison, 14, has been charged as an adult with first degree
murder after police learned how she killed her child following months
of fearfully disguising her pregnancy from her mother and father.
Her harrowing case has shocked even experienced officers and
graphically illustrates the problems of the 750,000 teenage Americans
who fall pregnant every year.
Goodison went into labor in her home in Greenbrier Village, Florida on
September 19 and instead of calling for help, disguised her screams of
pain by running the tap and gripping a towel between her teeth as she
sat on the toilet.
After prising the 9.5lb boy form her body with a pair of scissors, she
felt for a pulse and then strangled the boy to death and hid his
corpse in a shoe box with dirty laundry.
Three days later, as Teresa Goodson cleaned her daughter's room, a
foul odour drew her attention to a pile of soiled, wet clothes in
which she found the deceased infant hidden in a box.
An autopsy performed determined the victim was a full term infant and
that he was alive and breathing prior to death. He died as a result of
asphyxia from strangulation and blunt force trauma.
Miss Goodson had gone to great lengths to hide the transformation of
her 5ft 3in 100lb body during pregnancy, according to Polk County
officials.
Throughout the summer, as she walked around in baggy sweat pant and
loose-fitting T-shirts.
Members of her family grew suspicious of her appearance and attempted
to discuss the possibility she was pregnant with the teen's mother.
But Mrs Goodson denied the suggestions, said the report, claiming that
she had made her daughter do two home tests, albeit in the privacy of
her bathroom, which both came out negative.
Husband Timothy Goodson agreed meanwhile that he had noticed Miss
Goodson's weight gain and that she had been walking around at home
wrapped in a blanket.
An interview with the teenager on September 22 revealed that after the
14-year-old had delivered the 9.5lb, 20.4in boy into the toilet, she
had felt for a pulse and then strangled him to death.
Confirming he was dead by once again checking his pulse, she then
cleaned herself and the baby and tucked the evidence out of sight.
Shortly after, however, Mrs Goodson noticed blood in the toilet she
knew had been recently used by her daughter so took her to Lakeland
Regional Medical Center.
There medical staff treating the high school student told Mrs Goodson
that she had suffered a miscarriage and showed four to five
lacerations on her v*g*nal wall.
Though these injuries were in reality self-inflicted when the teenager
had pried the baby out of her with a pair of scissors, she falsely
confessed to her mother that she had indeed had a miscarriage at home
and flushed the fetus down the toilet by mistake.
Polk County Sheriff's Office deputies, along with members of the
Department of Children and Families responded to a call from the
hospital reporting the case and details were retained by the PCSO
Bureau of Criminal Investigations for follow up investigations.
According to the Sheriff's Office affidavit, on the evening of
September 22, at approximately 7.30pm, Mrs Goodson removed a bag of
smelly, wet clothing from a storage stool in her daughter's bedroom.
While sorting through the clothing she found the body of the baby
concealed in the shoe box.
In a panic, Mrs Goodson called her sisters who in turn alerted the police.
Miss Goodson told detectives she was motivated to hide her pregnancy
and choke the baby 'to stop him from breathing,' by the fear that her
relationship with her parents would change if they found out the
truth.
Miss Goodson was arrested on Thursday and transported first to the
Juvenile Assessment Center and then to the Polk County Juvenile
Detention Facility.
She is charged with Premeditated First Degree Murder, a capital felony
and Aggravated Child Abuse, a first degree felony.
Polk County Public Information officer, Donna Wood, told MailOnline:
This is the most perplexing, confusing, disheartening case I've ever
seen in my 18 years on this job. Everyone has been touched by it.'
