A Cobb County police spokesman said more charges may be looming as the investigation deepens into last weekend's alleged kidnapping of a mother and her newborn baby girl.
"We're getting conflicting stories from everyone involved," spokesman Dana Pierce told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. "We're still trying to determine what agreement [the mother, Holly Daenette Parker-Heard] may or may not have had with the midwife."
Rebecca Mclarty, 39, and alleged "co-conspirator," Christian Turner, an alias for Scott Alan McDaniel, were arrested Monday and charged with kidnapping and cruelty to children. Turner, 42, was arrested around 6:30 p.m. walking out of the woods in the Carrollton area.
Meanwhile, an official with North American Registry of Midwives, based in Atlanta, said she doesn't think Mclarty is certified to provide care during birth.
"She's not in any of our databases nationwide," said Debbie Pulley, director of public education for the registry. "All the midwives I know would never leave a room like that."
Police were called Saturday afternoon when staff at the Austell Inn and Suites found "blood-soaked linens" and a mattress "contaminated with blood," Pierce said. That is where Parker-Heard, 27, apparently gave birth on Saturday.
The night before, according to a motel employee, the expectant mother was partying in that same room.
Police still don't know if Mclarty was simply doing a good deed by taking care of the newborn, as her friends claim, or if the baby was headed for the black market, with Parker-Heard's consent.
With that issue unresolved, Cobb authorities have maintained custody of the infant. Both the newborn and her mother are in good physical condition, Pierce said.
Mclarty and McDaniel are being held in Cobb County Jail. And while additional charges may be coming, Mclarty would likely not be prosecuted for posing as a midwife. Pulley said Georgia does not regulate midwives, though her group has lobbied for the state to do so.
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