Background: The Linn County Correctional Center in Cedar Rapids, Iowa (Linn County government). Inset: Margaret Conant (Linn County Correctional Center).
An Iowa woman is behind bars after authorities said she wrapped her “barely breathing” newborn in a towel and placed him in a closet instead of calling for emergency help.
Margaret Conant, 39, faces charges of child endangerment creating a substantial risk of bodily injury and a prohibited act involving a prescription drug violation, according to jail records reviewed by Law&Crime. She is being held at the Linn County Correctional Center on a $5,000 bond.
On Dec. 31, 2025, officers with the Marion Police Department responded to Conant’s home following a report of an unconscious and unresponsive newborn, according to a criminal complaint obtained by The Gazette, a local newspaper. Officers arrived to find the baby boy dead.
During their investigation, police reportedly learned that Conant had given birth two days earlier. Authorities said she told them the baby was “barely breathing” and made sounds for only about a minute after his birth.
Rather than seek medical assistance, Conant allegedly wrapped the child, identified in court documents as “C.C.,” in a towel and placed him inside a bag. She then moved the bag to a shelf in a closet. According to police, she said the baby stopped making sounds.
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The investigation later found that an autopsy determined C.C. had been born at approximately 25 to 26 weeks of gestation, the newspaper reported. Authorities also said Conant had ordered abortion medication from an online service called “Women on Web” on Dec. 21, 2025—10 days before the baby’s death.
Conant allegedly acknowledged that she had lied about the date of her last menstrual period to obtain the medications mifepristone and misoprostol.
Nick Maybanks of the Linn County Prosecutor’s Office told regional ABC affiliate KCRG that the case was complicated, delaying the filing of charges for nearly a year. He said prosecutors reviewed evidence, including information downloaded from Conant’s phone, before determining that charges were warranted.
Maybanks also said it remains unclear whether immediate medical treatment could have saved the child.
Conant was booked into jail on Wednesday.
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