The Sept. 15 medical response became a homicide case within hours, eventually leading to two felony charges and a not-guilty plea.
PERRY, Iowa — The first emergency call from an Iowa child care center was about a bleeding employee, not a dead infant. Within roughly two hours, however, Perry police had found a newborn girl in a trash container and begun an investigation that would lead to first-degree murder and abuse-of-a-corpse charges against the baby’s mother.
The sequence began Sept. 15 at Acorns & Oaks Child Care, which operates on a Perry Lutheran Homes campus. Dallas County emergency medical personnel were dispatched shortly before 5 p.m. after receiving a report of a woman experiencing vaginal bleeding. First responders assessed the employee, Stephanie Ubaldo, 20, and transported her to a hospital in the Des Moines area. At that stage, police had not publicly described any reason to believe an infant was involved. The medical emergency would become the first known event in a rapidly developing criminal investigation.
Information received after Ubaldo reached the hospital changed the response. Court records cited by Iowa media say she told medical staff that she had delivered a baby in a bathroom at the daycare and put the child in the garbage. Perry police said officers were notified at approximately 6:22 p.m. that a premature infant might be in a trash container at the facility. Officers responded and, at about 6:32 p.m., located the infant dead inside a trash bag. The discovery occurred a little more than an hour after Ubaldo had been transported for treatment.
Police immediately separated the discovery from the daycare’s ordinary child care operations. The department said the infant was not enrolled at Acorns & Oaks and had not been a child placed under the facility’s care. Authorities also said they did not believe there was an ongoing danger to the community. Perry Lutheran Homes, which operates the daycare as part of its campus, similarly said enrolled children and campus residents were not involved. Those clarifications were issued while investigators were still working to determine what had happened inside the building before emergency crews arrived.
A death investigator responded, and the infant’s body was sent to the Iowa Office of the State Medical Examiner in Ankeny. The medical examination later became part of the probable-cause account underlying the criminal case. Court reporting said the baby was estimated to have been between 32 and 36 weeks’ gestation and had multiple injuries. The death was ruled a homicide. Officials have not publicly released the complete autopsy materials reviewed in the sources for this report, and the available records do not establish by themselves the criminal liability of any individual.
Investigators interviewed Ubaldo after the discovery. According to the criminal complaint described by multiple Iowa news organizations, she said she had known she was pregnant for several months but had not told anyone. Authorities say she told investigators that she delivered the child in the daycare bathroom. The complaint further alleges that when she heard the baby crying, she deliberately caused injuries to the infant’s face in an attempt to stop the crying. Because those claims come from a criminal complaint, they are allegations that prosecutors would have to prove if the case proceeds to trial.
The complaint also describes what investigators say Ubaldo planned to do immediately after the birth. She allegedly intended to return to her duties at the child care center, but her continued bleeding prevented her from doing so and ultimately led to the medical response. That allegation links the first emergency call to the later discovery: the same medical condition that prompted coworkers or others at the facility to seek help also preceded the hospital disclosure that sent police back to search for the infant. Authorities have not released a comprehensive minute-by-minute account beyond the dispatch and discovery times.
Two days after the infant was found, Perry police announced Ubaldo’s arrest. She was booked into the Dallas County Jail on a first-degree murder charge as the investigation continued with assistance from the Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation. Police Chief Jim Archer described the arrest as a significant point in the investigation while emphasizing that investigative work was continuing. The department also sought information from anyone who might have relevant knowledge of the events surrounding the infant’s death.
The court case has developed since that initial arrest. More recent court reporting says Ubaldo is now charged with first-degree murder and abuse of a corpse. She has pleaded not guilty. Iowa law classifies abuse of a corpse as a Class C felony when a person engages in specified conduct, including hiding a human body with the intent to conceal a crime. The murder allegation is the more serious charge, but neither charge is proof of guilt. Ubaldo’s plea puts the allegations in dispute and preserves the state’s burden to establish every required element through admissible evidence.
The case also prompted police to discuss an option that was not part of the original emergency response: Iowa’s Newborn Safe Haven Act. State health officials say the law permits a parent, or someone authorized by a parent, to relinquish an infant up to 90 days old through designated facilities and services without prosecution for abandonment when the law’s requirements are followed. Approved options include hospitals, qualifying health care facilities, staffed fire stations, newborn safety devices and adoption service providers. A parent may also call 911 and surrender custody to the responding first responder.
Archer said after Ubaldo’s arrest that designated options were available in Perry and urged people facing crisis pregnancies to seek available assistance. The Safe Haven statute provides context for the alternatives authorities say exist for safely relinquishing an infant, but it does not answer the questions at issue in the pending prosecution. The state’s allegations concern what happened after the child was born, including the accusation that the baby was intentionally injured. Those allegations will be judged through the criminal case rather than through police statements made shortly after the arrest.
The early timeline remains important because it shows how authorities say the case came to light without a traditional report of an assault or missing child. Emergency personnel initially responded to the mother’s medical condition. Hospital information then led officers to search a trash container. The search led to the infant’s discovery, which brought in a death investigator and state medical examiner. Investigators then conducted interviews, obtained the medical findings and pursued charges. Each stage produced information that later appeared in the criminal complaint and public statements.
As of early November, the case remains unresolved. Ubaldo has waived her right to a speedy trial, according to court reporting, and a pretrial conference is scheduled for Dec. 4 at the Dallas County Courthouse. No trial date has been announced. Dallas County’s inmate inquiry continued to list her in custody. Her not-guilty plea means the allegations surrounding the Sept. 15 birth, the infant’s death and the handling of the body remain matters for the court to decide.
Author note: Last updated November 6, 2026.