Dead Baby Found Behind NW Denver Home

DENVER -- Denver Police are investigating the gruesome discovery of a baby found dead in a shed located at the rear of home in northwest Denver Thursday afternoon.

The baby was found by the homeowner around 4:00 p.m., at a home in the 1800 block of West 51st Avenue. The man who owned the home did not live there, but cleaning up the property.

According to a neighbor, there was a drug raid at the home about a week ago. The property owner was cleaning up the property when he found the corpse wrapped in a blanket in a box.

The area around the house was cordoned off with crime scene tape Thursday evening and the homeowner was being questioned. Police were also talking to neighbors to see what they might know about the baby.

The discovery came the same day as a 29-year-old mother was formally charged Thursday with first-degree murder and child abuse resulting in death in connection with the death of her newborn baby two weeks ago.

Erin Pendleton gave birth to a baby boy in the restroom of the Legends Bar and Grill on June 25 and left the baby in a restroom trash can where it died, according to the Denver District Attorney's Office.

The infant's corpse was discovered a few hours after the bar closed.

An arrest warrant affidavit for Pendleton alleged that she used cocaine and went to another bar and partied after leaving her baby in the trash bin.

Pendleton is being held without bond in the Denver County Jail and will be formally advised of the charges against her Friday morning.

The discovery of the dead infant at the Cherry Creek North bar came just hours after Griselle Suarez, 20, allegedly abandoned her newborn in a northwest Denver trash bin, according to police. Suarez's newborn died four days later, after being taken off life support.

The district attorney charged Suarez with first-degree murder.