By Richard Winton, Hector Becerra, Times Staff Writers and Rebecca Trounson, Times Staff Writers|October 15, 2005
A 21-year-old USC student charged with her baby's abandonment and death this week also was investigated last year after she arrived at a hospital in downtown Los Angeles appearing to have just given birth but without a baby, according to law enforcement sources close to the case.
In that April 2004 investigation, Holly Ashcraft eventually told authorities that the child had been stillborn and that she had disposed of its body on her own, the sources said. Police were informed of the situation after Ashcraft arrived, hemorrhaging, at Good Samaritan Hospital. Doctors quickly determined that she had recently given birth, although the sources said Ashcraft was reluctant to acknowledge that at first.
The sources and Ashcraft's attorney emphasized that she was never arrested or charged in connection with the incident in 2004.
Paul J. Wallin, a Tustin attorney hired to defend Ashcraft in the current case, said Friday that his law firm also represented her in last year's investigation. "There was a stillborn birth," he said of that 2004 case. "Regarding that incident, not only was our client not prosecuted for any crime, she wasn't even arrested for any crime
Wallin said he could not elaborate on either incident but urged the public to hold off on forming opinions about his client.
"Everyone needs to slow down and wait for the facts to come out," he said.
Investigators said they never found a baby's body in the 2004 case, so they could not determine if Ashcraft was telling the truth. The sources said the Los Angeles Police Department did not do an extensive search because detectives believed that too much time had passed and that it would not be possible to determine whether a crime had been committed.
Lt. Dennis Shirey of the LAPD's juvenile unit, which is handling the investigation, said he could not comment on previous events.
In the current case, Ashcraft, of Billings, Mont., was arrested Wednesday and charged with murder and child abuse in connection with the alleged abandonment of her newborn son in a trash bin near her apartment north of the USC campus. Police said the child was born alive but placed inside a cardboard box and deposited into the container. A homeless man picking through the trash discovered the child and called police.
Ashcraft, a third-year architecture student at USC, remained Friday at the Twin Towers jail in downtown Los Angeles. Her attorneys described her $2-million bail as "outrageous" and said they planned to file a motion for it to be reduced.
