REDWOOD CITY — A McDonald’s employee faces attempted murder charges after prosecutors say she unwittingly gave birth in the restaurant’s bathroom then tried to flush the newborn girl down the toilet, according to the San Mateo County District Attorney’s Office.
The woman who gave birth, 25-year-old Redwood City resident Sarah Jane Lockner, reportedly told authorities that she didn’t know she was pregnant.
“Her boyfriend said he did not know she was pregnant either, and none of her co-workers knew,” Chief Deputy District Attorney Karen Guidotti said.
The newborn was taken to a hospital, where she was placed in a medically induced coma, authorities said. She is “surviving on her own,” prosecutors said, but her prognosis remains unclear.
The bizarre episode was reported during the Labor Day swing shift at a location of the fast-food chain on Chestnut Street in Redwood City. According to prosecutors, Lockner went to the bathroom several times during her shift with complaints of stomach pain, and during one trip a co-worker noticed blood on the floor, which she reportedly dismissed as her having a “heavy period.”
During another visit to the bathroom, a second co-worker checking on Lockner looked over the stall and reportedly saw the sight of a newborn baby face-down in the toilet bowl, with Lockner seemingly pushing the baby in the back. As the co-worker stepped down to the floor, she told investigators she heard the toilet flush.
Lockner reportedly told the co-worker not to call the police, but she did anyway and responding officers arrived to find the baby girl not breathing and without a pulse.
For even seasoned prosecutors who have seen a wide range of horrific crimes, the case was still startling.
“We can all agree the facts of this case are pretty shocking. An infant, a newborn, is incredibly vulnerable,” Guidotti said. “It’s shocking to the community a person would behave this way with a helpless newborn.”
Lockner is being held in the San Mateo County jail on $11 million bail on charges including attempted murder and inflicting great bodily harm to a child.
She is scheduled to return to court Monday. If convicted on all charges, Lockner faces life in prison.
