Woman Put Fetus in Cooler, Gave It to Her Ex: Cops

Here's your kid. That's allegedly what a. woman told her ex-lover when she handed. him a small cooler. And inside, it's the. stuff of nightmares. We are taking a. closer look at this horrifying incident. and what could become of the suspect as. her court case moves forward. Welcome to. Sidebar, presented by Law and Crime. I'm. Jesse Weber. [Music]. This is a story we might not really. believe if it weren't in the black and. white of a police report. And I really.

wish it wasn't, but it is because. Missouri investigators say that a woman. claimed she had a miscarriage and. decided to give the remains to the. alleged father of the child in the most. cold and callous way I think I have ever. heard. That's the allegations. Now, we're going to warn you, these are. incredibly disturbing allegations and. are very tough to hear. 29-year-old. Michaela Annette Head is facing a. harassment charge and a probable cause. affidavit filed in support of her arrest.

lays out what led up to that charge. So, to help me talk about what law. enforcement says happened, discuss where. the investigation goes from here, where. the case goes from here. I want to. welcome on trial attorney Ally Young. Ally, thanks so much for taking the. time. Appreciate it. >> Yeah, thanks for having me. So, this. deputy with the Palaski County Sheriff's. Office wrote in this affidavit that he. responded to a home in Wesville, Missouri on September 18th. This is just. before 3:00 in the morning. And he spoke. with a man identified as confidential.

victim number one or CV number one. So, we believe this to be the alleged. father, right, Ally? First of all, why. keep him confidential in this report? >> Well, we just like to protect victim's. rights here. Um just having um a kind of. a buffer between who the victim is and. who uh the public knows him or her to be. um kind of creates a little bit of a. safety net for any victim. So not just. him but any victim. We we tend to refer. to them by their initials to give them a.

little bit more anonymity. So, the. affidavit reads, quote, CV number one. and the female subject identified as. Michaela Head, and I believe that's how. you pronounce her name, could be a wrong. apologies, have been friends for a few. years. During those years of being. friends, they had been romantic with one. another on and off, stating, "We never. dated. It was more of a fling." He. stated Michaela was a habitual liar, which caused him to not believe her when. she advised him she was pregnant. approximately 1 to two months prior. CV1.

told me earlier in the afternoon of. September 17th, 2025, Michaela had. messaged him stating she had a. miscarriage, but did not say anything. else on the subject. Michaela then came. to CV number one's residence and picked. him up in her vehicle where they then. went to run errands. Now, Ally, this. gives us some kind of background on not. only the relationship between the victim. and Michaela, but also how she interacts. with him after apparently telling him. she had a miscarriage, right? the whole.

thing is written away. That sounds so. nonchalant. Um I guess the question is. if this is the account that was told to. him by CV1 just taking there is CV1 this. apparent father most reliable narrator. given what the timing of just told this. and then what are we talking about. >> right like why does he not have more. questions? She just said she went. through a miscarriage. um any normal. person would kind of have concern for. another person uh that maybe went.

through a miscarriage of their own. child. Um but outside of knowing more. about what's going on during the. background of their relationship or I. mean he he does say hey she's a habitual. liar. I don't believe her. Um but at the. same time we don't know how far along. she was or anything of that nature. Um. it's very it reads very callous and it. reads very um uh kind of juvenile.

A and to be clear from the story, you. know, we can't even be certain there was. a miscarriage per se. Let me get into. this a little bit more. So, the affidavit continues, quote, "At. approximately 2030 hours, once back at. his home, CV1 was burning trash where. Michaela threw what appeared to him as a. Walmart bag Walmart bag containing. clothes into the fire." Ally, just. before she hands him the cooler, which. we'll talk about, she apparently burns.

this Walmart bag. Now, law enforcement. seems to posit that the bag contained. clothes. Are we talking about destroying. evidence here? I don't think there's. necessarily evidence there because there. would need to be some just destroying. clothes doesn't necessarily lead to any. sort of a crime. Um especially if we're. going to talk about is there a fetus in. a cooler or is there a a baby who was. once alive. So those are two very stark. differences that we have to kind of.

acknowledge here uh as far as Missouri. law acknowledges. Um, if it's a fetus. and it never once had um a a breath of. air coming out, then there's no life to. give it um under Missouri law. Um if it. it's if it's an infant and it it died uh. during the course of childirth in any. capacity, um but at one point in time. after it has uh been born, it took a. breath, then we can talk about, oh, that's a live fetus. Um, so it Missouri.

law kind of gets a little bit iffy in. that gray area, but if we're just. talking about a bag of clothes, there's. no um no evidentary value that says uh. this would have led to something more. nefarious. >> Now, obviously, this is a story that we. wanted to bring to you, and the reason. that we can do this is not only because. of the amazing support that we get from. all of you out there, but also from our. incredible sponsor, Upside. Now,

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description to download Upside or scan. the QR code on screen. But make sure to. use our promo code sidebar because. you'll get an extra 25 cents back on. every gallon on your first tank of gas. Yeah, let that distinction's important. And let me get to this part. This is the. main part of the affidavit that is just. gut-wrenching. Quote, Michaela then gave. him food, which she had gotten from a. good Samaritan, where she then handed. him a red and white in color cooler with. green tape holding it closed, stating, "Here's your kid." then driving off in. her vehicle. CV number one said he.

believed she was making a cruel, bleeped. up joke and instead believed it was a. cooler of drinks, but was hesitant to. see the contents. He placed the cooler. on the ground where he sat next to it. trying to decide what to do with it in. fear it may actually be a deceased. fetus. CV1 said after speaking with. family members and friends regarding. what he should do. Approximately one to. one and a half hours later he decided to. have his friend D accompany him to see.

what was inside the cooler. After. opening the cooler and observing the. fetus, CV1 then closed the cooler and. called the sheriff's office. Ally, this. is so disturbing. It is so unthinkable. Um, my question is, you know, I have a. lot of questions about this. First of. all, do police conduct testing to see if. this is in fact his child, to see if in. fact this is her child? I mean, h how do. they process this?

>> Sure. I mean, so they invite a coroner. to the scene to try and figure out one, is this a uh a human fetus? Um, two, uh, then they try and decide, did this baby. ever live or is this in fact a. miscarriage where the baby was dead. prior to being born. Um, that all. happens later on. It doesn't happen. specifically there at the scene. Um, but. they could do a DNA test. They could try. to see if it is um related to CV, but.

based off the charges, there's no real. need to do so. Um it the the paternity. of this child doesn't necessarily matter. in the uh eyes of the law as far as what. Miss Head is charged with. A. >> and the idea of the sequence of events, right? She allegedly drops off the. cooler, leaves, he doesn't know what to. do according to the account, has to call. a friend. I mean that is so chilling. Um.

and I wonder that sequence of events how. that fits into the investigation. Well, something that really stood out to me in. the probable cause statement is when CV. tells the officers, he even apologizes. to the officers for them having to see. the fetus in the cooler. He says, "I'm. sorry you guys had to see that knowing. this is something that nobody wants to. see. This is uh an image that's going to. haunt CV. It's going to haunt the. officers. It's going to haunt everyone. that's involved in this case just.

because of Miss Head's cruel cruel. decision to uh leave the body in in the. way that she did. >> I'm glad you mentioned that because the. affidavit says, "While speaking with. CV1, I observed he would often become. silent where he would stare at the. ground for several minutes, then make a. statement such as, "This is the type of. thing you see on the internet all the. time, but don't think will happen to. you, and this is bleeped up. I'm sorry. you guys had to see that." CV1 appeared. to have tears build in his eyes while. speaking about the incident and had a.

hard time describing what he felt when. he initially opened the cooler, but said. once he saw the fetus, he was shocked. and couldn't believe she would do. something like that. Now, Ally, officers, they always assess credibility. of the witnesses they're speaking to. What does that account tell you and and. and the specifics of it, the emotion of. it to put it in a report? The officer, the deputy thought it was relevant to. make note of that. Yeah, absolutely. Um, anytime the complaining victim is um,

experiencing such a high level of. emotion, it it definitely is important. and it shows um, it shows through the. probable cause statement how hurt that. the victim was. And if you can just read. on paper how hurt somebody was, then. there's no level of feeling it in. person. So, I couldn't imagine in person. what he is actually feeling um because I. can read it on paper and I can uh just. see how hurt he is through that. And and. and it's a great point because that.

actually ties into the specifics of the. charge that Michaela is facing. Okay, we. will get to that because it's not only. just opening a cooler and seeing a. fetus, right? the shock of that, how. disgusting it is. But to think. >> or you were led to believe this is your. own child, right? That goes be beyond. So the deputy writes, "In order to. verify the contents of the cooler, I. carefully open the cooler where I. observed what appeared to be a human. fetus." So now you have the deputy. confirming what was in there. After.

shutting the cooler and asking CV1 to. move away from the area, I advised. dispatch to notify detectives and the. coroner. Now, the deputy made sure to. note in his report that part of his. interactions weren't recorded on his. body cam. Quote, "After leaving CV1's. residence, my bodywn worn camera. malfunctioned, causing it to only save. the footage leading up to opening the. cooler." Ally, why is that important? Why make note of that? How much of a. difference does that make? >> It doesn't make a whole lot of. difference. It's just a procedural.

thing. So, it shows a defense attorney. or a prosecutor uh who's going to. eventually get this case that says, "Hey, uh nothing else of substance. happened after my body cam turned off. I. just left and it it malfunctioned.". Everything of substance happened uh. while the body cam was on and then I. left the scene and my body cam stopped. working. um it just kind of clears up. any questions about what's going on. after the body cam cuts off um that a. defense attorney or a prosecutor might.

have um of the case. >> So, let's talk about what reportedly. happened next. According to court. documents, deputies were able to locate. Michaela's car, this Ford Fiesta. They. took it in into custody for processing. She was arrested. She was booked into. jail. Around a $50,000 bond has been. set. Uh, and court paperwork reads, "Mikla committed harassment first degree. when she, without good cause, gave CV1. the cooler containing a deceased fetus, stating, "Here's your kid." causing him.

emotional distress. Now, I'll talk about. that charge in a second. First, Ally, taking the car in for processing, what. are they looking for? >> Sure. They're looking for, I believe, they're looking for any evidence that. says um that maybe the baby could have. been alive at the time of birth. um that. obviously then elevates this case. significantly from the E-level felony of. harassment in the first degree to a an. infant homicide or to an endangering the. welfare of a child first degree which is.

an a felony. Um I think but just based. off taking the car into evidence that's. what they're looking for. Um, can they. find anything that would suggest that. the baby was alive prior to uh it going. into uh the the cooler and then being. handed to CV? >> And I want to talk about that, but. first, so she's facing this harassment. charge in the first degree. I looked it. up. says a person commits the offense of. harassment in the first degree if he or. she without good cause engages in any.

act with the purpose to cause emotional. distress to another person and such act. does cause such person to suffer. emotional distress. So now ally we can. see why the deputy is putting in those. specifics about how CV1 was reacting um. into that probable cause affidavit. Yes, the deputy knows at the time of writing. his probable cause statement exactly. what he's going to ask the the. prosecutor to charge um and based off of. what he thinks the evidence is. That's.

what he's going to write in his report. to kind of bolster that claim. So, a. probable cause statement just is. everything the officer observes and sees. that could bolster the claim that he is. making in order to uh get the the charge. um that he's asking for. And that's. pretty straightforward. The harassment. charge, it feels kind of broad. It can. include a lot, but I mean it seems like. a law school example. If you if all the. facts are true, and you put a fetus in a. cooler, hand it to somebody and say,

"This is your child or here's your kid.". Feels like a textbook uh clear-cut case. of harassment. >> Exactly. Um it the harassment charge in. the state of Missouri is. all-encompassing. Um, it can include, "Hey, this person uh threatened me by. racking his firearm and um putting uh. a note on my doorbell saying that that's. for me." Or it could include sending uh. harassing text messages that somebody's.

going to regard as um offensive. And it. can include putting a fetus in a cooler, apparently. By the way, this harassment. charge, you seem to you, and I don't. want to put words in your mouth. You say. it's possible this can be upgraded if. we're talking about whether that baby. was alive. Um, and whether or not the. baby was killed. Um, because I mean, how. do they confirm whether or not she had a. miscarriage or not? Um, but beside that, can there also be another charge? I.

don't know if there's something in the. books for, you know, desecration of. remains or um mutilation of a of a. corpse or tampering with evidence or. something like that. Is there something. else that you think based purely on. these facts uh or facts laid out by law. enforcement more that she could face? >> I think those are are great options for. the prosecutor if they want to explore. that route. Um, I think going the route. of trying to see if the fetus was alive.

at any point in time, um, is a is a big. stretch. Um, that's very hard to do and. it's going to require a lot of expert. testimony in order to establish that. But, uh, tampering with a, uh, with. evidence is a good is a good additional. charge. Um, and like you said, that. would just go towards, hey, you're. taking evidence of this fetus, you're. putting it into a a box, and then you're. giving it to some random person on the. street. That's um uh that's a crime. But.

also, it doesn't necessarily establish. um that there was a crime initially com. uh uh that there was a crime that was. initially committed. So, if you're going. to tamper with physical evidence, that. evidence has to be evidence of a crime. to begin with. And if there's no. evidence of that crime, >> uh, the underlying crime, then you can't. tamper with the evidence. >> Given this heinous, uh, series of. allegations here, are we potentially.

looking at some sort of mental health. defense or at the very least a. competency evaluation that may become a. priority in a case like this? I I. haven't seen anything to suggest that's. what we're dealing where where she you. know can't appreciate um you know the. charges against her or provide you know. assist in her defense in some way or. understand the legal process because. that's different from let's say insanity. but I I do wonder I taking these. allegations as true if Missouri provides.

for a mental health defense and what. that may look like. >> Yes. So, I did a quick case search of. her name and it shows that there are. three pending cases currently for her. This one and then two others. One. misusing misusing 911 and then um a DWI. Uh the the two of those are very benign. uh charges anyways. They're. misdemeanors. However, if you read into. them and you read their probable cause. statement, um I mean it it it.

gives rise to a defense of diminished. capacity, which is the um the question. what goes to your question as far as um. an insanity defense outside of is she. completely competent. I have no doubt. she's competent. That's a very low. standard to meet. Um, but if there's. mental health issues there, um, I would. say this case probably has all the. hallmarks of it, especially if there's. some sort of underlying mental health.

issue and then pregnancy on top of it. does compound those mental health. issues. Um, it can certainly lead to. questions of whether or not her mental. status and her capacity are there in. order to commit crimes. >> Yeah. Because the idea of just handing. over a cooler to somebody with a fetus. inside, right, that's the allegation. Knowing they're probably going to call. law enforcement, it does raise uh those. questions. And by the way, just adding. to something that you said, you're. you're right. Um it seems based on the.

court records that Missouri law. enforcement have encountered her before. So, in July of this year, according to. court records, it's our understanding, Michaela was pulled over for crossing. the center line, having a broken tail. light, and according to the officer's. report, she was argumentative with a. state trooper, tried to call 911 on him. multiple times during the stop. At one. point, the trooper notes that she has. her phone between her legs, and it turns. out she's connected to dispatch. The. dispatcher reported that Michaela had.

called multiple times to report she was. being harassed by an officer. And the. probable cause statement in that case. reads head had contacted troop F and 911. five times within a 10minute period. Now. there is an interesting tidbit from that. affidavit. It ties back in with this. disturbing case because the trooper. wrote uh that her behavior was quote. extremely erratic during questioning. She stated she was a little dehydrated. and pregnant. She was charged with a. misdemeanor in that case, misuse of 911.

Uh but when she failed to show up for. court, there was a warrant that was put. out for her arrest. Ally, just to circle. back on that, do you think that will. play a role in the current case? >> I think it would defin as a defense. attorney, I think it would definitely. play a role in my eyes. Um a prosecutor. may try and sever them um and say. obviously she knows the role of 911. She's calling and she's asking for help. She certainly could have done that in. this case. However, um as a defense. attorney, I'm using all that I have. available to me. And that um that right.

there kind of bolsters my claim for she. has a diminished capacity. She's not. able to uh appreciate the um men's rhea. or the mental status needed in order to. commit harassment in the first degree. And and I want to just focus on that. harassment charge uh for a minute. because the charging information that. was filed with the court, it laid out. the sentence that she could face if. she's convicted. You mentioned it uh a. class E felony. It says, quote, "The. range punishment for a class E felony is.

imprisonment in the custody of the. Missouri Department of Corrections for a. term of years not less than one year and. not to exceed four years or by. imprisonment for a special term not to. exceed one year in the county, jail, or. other authorized penal institution or by. a fine not to exceed $10,000 or by both. imprisonment and a fine." Now, Ally, that's our understanding about how this. would work here. If she takes this to. trial, if she's convicted, what do you. think she would be looking at here? Again, assuming she the charges aren't.

upgraded. >> Sure. If she goes to trial on the. harassment case, uh, a 1 to fouryear. sentence in prison, it's a it's a non 85. center, so she would do probably. somewhere around 30 to 35% of whatever. time is given to her. Um, additionally, she wouldn't even have to serve time. This is not a mandatory prison uh. charge. So, she could receive a. probation, um, an SIS probation, which. is a probation that doesn't carry a. conviction, or an SES probation, which.

would carry the felony conviction. So, there is a a wide range, but it's not a. it's not the harshest of ranges that she. could face. Obviously, >> I got to say, I mean, if she's convicted. of this, it doesn't get more egregious. I would have to imagine there'd be. prison time, which does make me wonder. if this is all that she's facing right. now. Would a plea be a plea bargain be. put forward in this case, a plea deal? Why? I I I wonder if prosecutors really. want to take this to trial. Do they want.

to expose a jury to photos of a fetus in. a cooler? Do they want the family? Do. they want anyone to be a part of this? I. would imagine avoiding a trial could be. a great decision here. However, uh you. know, offering no prison time for if. these allegations are true, offering no. prison time for something like this to. avoid a trial, I don't know if that's in. the best interest, too, in the interest. of justice. >> Sure. In the interest of justice is an. interesting question that we would face. here. So, I would want to know um like.

what I would want to get a psychologist. and a psychiatrist involved. I want to. know what's going on deep inside of this. woman because as a um as a mom and as a. member of our society, I mean, you would. have to think that there has to be. something uh that is deeply rooted in. Miss Head in order to um for these facts. to be true. Even just a member of our. society, you would want to make sure. that okay, let's let's take care of the.

underlying causes that is making Miss. Head do these crazy things. um because. one to four years in the Department of. Corrections is no time at all. And so at. some point, regardless of if she gets. one year or four years, she's getting. back onto the streets, right? And so we. want to make sure that we're addressing. whatever mental health concerns there is. at the time, whatever issues that could. be um uh kind of wrapped up in Miss Head. and then trying to put her back into a. position where she can be a contributing. member of society when she's done with.

this case. um and that we're not going. to keep seeing her in the justice. system. Um this is a case where um you. have to ask yourself, like you said, what what does serve justice? And I. don't think four years is ever going to. be enough for CV who has to see these. images of this baby for the rest of his. life or the the officers for the rest of. their life as well. Um, but also does. this person, does this defendant have.

severe mental health issues that have. caused her to do this? Those are those. are what I would weigh on the scale here. to try and decide what's appropriate and. what's not appropriate. >> Alli Young, thanks so much for coming on. to talk about this case. I know it's not. an easy one, but appreciate it. >> Never is. Thank you, Jesse, for having. me. >> And that's all we have for you right now. here on Sidebar. Everybody, thank you so. much for joining us. And as always, please subscribe on YouTube, Apple. Podcast, Spotify, wherever you should. get your podcasts. You can follow me on. X or Instagram. I'm Jesse Weber. I'll.

speak to you next time. [Music].