The Misery Machine - The Case of Mia McQuillin

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Starting point is 00:02:15 But the young woman in today's story, after being faced with the reality of motherhood, decided to throw it all away. And I mean literally everything. 18-year-old Mia McQuillan isn't like a lot of young women that we cover here on this channel. She was part of an affluent family and grew up in Bend, Oregon, living in a million-dollar bungalow. After graduation, Mia took part in a Gap Year program through Cambridge, Massachusetts-based agency called EF Gap Year, which, according to their website, allows students aged 18 to 22 years old to experience the world and discover your past. passions, build real-world skills, make lifelong memories, and return home a better you.

Starting point is 00:03:02 Now, this program didn't come without a steep price tag. For this experience, you'd be expected to shell out between $19,500 to $24,750 for a semester and $43,750 for the full year. Now, for those who chose the full gap year experience, you'd get to travel all over the world. I'm not even joking. Participants would start by exploring England, France, Italy, Switzerland, Germany, and the Czech Republic before hopping a flight to Australia and then Thailand. And this was just one semester. After winter break, travelers would to enjoy 12 more weeks of adventure. Now from what we can piece together based on that schedule in available news sources, it appears that Mia was starting

Starting point is 00:03:51 her adventure during semester two. However, she would never make it past France. Mia and her traveling companions were staying at the Ibis St.Ill's Hotel in Paris, located off of Rue de la Croix Saint-Simon in the city's 20th district. At around 6 a.m. on Monday, February 24th, 2025, tragedy struck. Unbeknownst to her fellow travelers, Mia had been hiding a secret. She was pregnant. Although the details remain unclear at this time, several news outlets have reported that Mia gave birth to a baby in her hotel room. Rather than ask for help or contact emergency services, she did the unthinkable. Mia wrapped the newborn in a towel with the umbilical cords still attached

Starting point is 00:04:37 and flung him from a second story window where he landed in a trash can. However, some reports have claimed that the baby boy was moved to the trash can. According to a hotel worker that witnessed the events, It was still early this Monday morning. Around 6 a.m., this little piece of Paris woke up in the middle of a nightmare. I get chills just thinking about it. It's awful. She had to give birth in the room.

Starting point is 00:05:02 She wrapped the baby in a towel and threw him out the window. He was still alive when he left with the emergency services. But he is dead. We wonder what happened. It must be a denial of pregnancy. A woman named... Exema is unpredictable. But you can flare less with...

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Starting point is 00:06:42 Investing involves risk to principle regardless of the strategy used. Task performance does not guarantee future. results. Maria, who works as a caretaker in a building opposite the hotel, told reporters, and I quote, there were police cars and ambulances. We thought it might be gang related, but when we learned what had happened, we were devastated. I've lived here for over 30 years, and it's a quiet neighborhood with very few tourists. It's so sad. Allegedly, witnesses heard screams which led them to contact emergency services. Although first responders rushed the baby to a Parisian children's hospital called the Necker, where they tried their absolute best to save this baby's life. Sadly, he was pronounced dead at 7.45 a.m.

Starting point is 00:07:23 Mia was rushed to the Robert Debris Hospital to undergo what sources are referring to as an operation following childbirth. Afterwards, she was placed in police custody in charge with child murder. According to the Guardian, French authorities are investigating the case as a homicide of a minor younger than 15 years old. The publication also outlined that authorities are considering the possibility of what is known as pregnancy denial, a condition in which a woman remains unaware of or in denial about her pregnancy until labor. We'll get into our thoughts on that a little later in our story.

Starting point is 00:07:59 The U.S. Embassy in Paris told reporters that they were aware of the situation and were closely monitoring the case and added, we are deeply saddened to learn of the recent tragedy involving the loss of a young life. EF Gapier spokesman, Adam Bickleman, released the following statement to the New York Post, where they said the agency was, and I quote, deeply shocked and saddened by this tragic event. We are fully cooperating with local authorities as they continue their investigation. Counseling support has been offered to all group members, and we are extending our support to the impacted families. According to the Daily Mail, Mia's story is eerily similar to that of a German woman,

Starting point is 00:08:41 Katerina Yovanovich, who was found guilty of manslaughter at the Heilbronn district court on July 3, 2024. According to the publication, Katerina flung her newborn baby out her apartment window, where she fell nearly 12 feet to the ground, all because she was worried that a baby would ruin her career as an executive at Porsche's legal department. Now initially, Katerina admitted to her crime, but once the case went to trial, suddenly she didn't realize that she'd been pregnant the whole time. However, the prosecution wasn't buying any of it, and according to reports, accused her of murder in deliberately concealing her pregnancy from colleagues and neighbors. Introducing Taco Bell's new jalapino citrus salsa with bright citrus, real red jalapinos, Guadillo chilis. Usually, you add sauce to the food, but

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Starting point is 00:10:18 According to her defense attorney Malta Hoke, and I quote again, it is a drama that affects me personally. My client did not even know that she was pregnant. When she suddenly held the bloody baby in her hands, she was in an exceptional psychological situation. It was an accident. She dropped the baby. How the child ended up over the window sill remains to be determined. Now, it should come as a surprise to nobody that cases like this are heavy, especially as someone who struggles with fertility issues.

Starting point is 00:10:52 We've had a lot of people reach out to us over the years to tell us that they need a break from true crime, that they struggle to find a good palate cleanser. This applies to us, too. So because of this, we've launched our new channel, Yergy and Drewby, where we will be talking about things outside the scope of true crime, largely wacky news stories. If you're a member of a victim's family who has contacted us to cover your loved one, don't worry.

Starting point is 00:11:18 This is in no way the end of the misery machine will still be keeping to our normal release schedule. But to be completely transparent, when you keep seeing cases with the same exact problems and trends over and over where a life could have been easily saved had somebody spoken up or if CPS didn't let children fall through the cracks who were in danger with a thoroughly documented history of evidence. And it seems like nobody is doing anything about it. It can be pretty tough on your mental health. So having an outlet to make lighter content is really needed from time to time. So if you're somebody who is

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Starting point is 00:12:27 Well, according to medical journals, it's when a woman is unaware of or unable to accept that she is pregnant. It can occur due to a number of reasons, including mental health, substance misuse, or a history of loss. Pregnancy denial is classified as either psychotic or non-psychotic. Psychotic denial is when the mother vastly misinterprets pregnancy symptoms, such as believing fetal movements, are things like, can't. cancer or a blood clot. Usually women classified with psychotic denial have a history of chronic mental illness. It also isn't uncommon for women with psychotic denial to go back and forth between accepting and denying that they are pregnant. For non-psychotic denial, there are three subtypes, which include effective denial, which is when the mother intellectually recognizes

Starting point is 00:13:17 she's pregnant but doesn't experience the emotional changes. Those experiencing effective denial are unlikely to take care of themselves or the fetus during pregnancy. Effective denial accounts for roughly half of those who experience non-psychotic pregnancy denial. There's also pervasive denial. This is when the mother appears to be completely and utterly unaware of her pregnancy. This tends to last until the third trimester, but some mothers will experience this right up to the moment of delivery. As such, some medical journals will label this as pervasive. denial until delivery. Then finally, there is persistent denial.

Starting point is 00:13:58 In our research, some medical journals describe persistent and pervasive denial as virtually the same thing. However, one key distinction I saw published in this article in the Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine is, and I quote, persistent denial occurs when women discover their pregnancy in the third trimester, yet fail to seek antenatal care. Basically, a mother find. out they are pregnant in the third trimester and decides not to seek any care until they go into labor. Now, risk factors include being a young mother, having a history of psychiatric episodes,

Starting point is 00:14:35 not being well educated, precarious employment, and the possibility of being a single mother. According to the same article in the Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine, and I quote, denial of pregnancy is more common than expected with an incidence at 20 weeks gestation of approximately 1 in 475. The proportion of cases persisting until delivery is about 1 in 2,500. They go on to note that consequences of denial of pregnancy can include psychological distress, unassisted delivery, and neonaticide. Pregnancy denial can be difficult to predict, and it's not possible to know for certain if a woman is concealing or denying a pregnancy. In the current political climate, one might be quick to think that.

Starting point is 00:15:23 Mia didn't have any options. However, Mia grew up in Oregon, which has some of the most liberal laws when it comes to reproductive freedom in the country. A simple Google search will bring up these key points for you. A woman's right to choose is legal in Oregon at all stages of pregnancy. There are no restrictions on when a procedure can be performed based on gestational age. Minors do not need parental consent to terminate their pregnancy and state medical Medicaid cover services. There is no mandatory waiting period before a woman can choose to terminate her pregnancy. There are laws in place to protect providers and patients from harassment and violence. Oregon's Equal Rights Amendment protects a woman's right to terminate her pregnancy. In addition,

Starting point is 00:16:13 Oregon has a number of policies that make birth control accessible, including laws that allow pharmacists to prescribe birth control. Pharmacists can prescribe short-actors. in hormonal contraception like the pill in the patch without a doctor's visit. Women over 18 can start or continue birth control care with a pharmacist, and patients under 18 can continue a prescription from a clinician. Now, that can be pretty ambiguous. When I was in high school, and this was in the late 90s, students could go to the school nurse and that counted as a clinician. Furthermore, Plan B is available without a prescription to students 17 and older and is free to students who qualify for Oregon contraceptive care or following an assault. It's also important to note that many different brands of emergency contraception can be purchased online through Amazon.

Starting point is 00:17:08 Oregon also has a law that allows anyone who qualifies to receive free sexual and reproductive health care, regardless of citizenship status. Oregon also has safe haven laws that allow parents to give up their newborns at authorized facilities without legal consequences. The law applies to infants who are 30 days older younger and show no signs of mistreatment. These facilities include hospitals, doctors offices, birthing clinics, police stations, sheriff's offices, and fire departments. While France does not have explicit safe haven laws, mothers can give birth anonymously and and for free in a hospital if they plan to put the baby up for adoption. So the assumption that Mia was forced to do what she did simply because she had no other option is wrong.

Starting point is 00:17:58 As explained, Mia not only had options, but she had many options before it got to this point. And unlike many of the previous cases that we've covered on this channel, she cannot use poverty or poor education as an excuse. Was she scared? One could reasonably assume so. But this is why parents need to be having frank and open discussions with their teenagers. That type of dialogue is what can prevent these tragedies from happening. Many of you will remember when we covered Alexi Treviso's case last year.

Starting point is 00:18:29 If not, we'll be sure to link her story for you in the pin post in the description. To recap, Alexi was a New Mexico high school senior and member of her school's cheerleading squad. Like Mia, Alexi was harboring a secret. Instead of coming clean, she went about our business as usual. cheering at basketball games, attending her senior prom with the baby's father, and getting ready to attend college at the New Mexico State University in Las Cruces in the fall. When she eventually went into labor, she still couldn't face reality. Instead of coming clean to her mother and hospital staff,

Starting point is 00:19:03 both of whom were concerned for her well-being, Alexi gave birth in a bathroom stall in the hospital and proceeded to throw the baby in the waste basket, where he was discovered by a cleaning lady shortly after. She described the scene as a gory massacre. After the gruesome discovery, the hospital phoned the police who first spoke with charged nurse H.D. Holiday. The bag was the original trash bag that was in there. It had trash in it.

Starting point is 00:19:32 When I pulled it out, it was spun where it was tight, like tied, and then it was folded underneath the baby in there. So it was like a little capsule the baby was in. So when I had to tear that bag open to see the baby in the bottom. If you would look in the, and I looked in there, when she told me, she was something, I looked, I said, what are you talking about? Because there was a clean line in the trash bag. So basically he was in the bottom, trash on top of him. And then another clean liner had been put on. One person asked me about the baby.

Starting point is 00:20:09 If it was alive, if it was dead, if it was a boy, it was a girl, no one asked me anything. Not even... Not even... No, she didn't ask... The only thing she started doing was crying and started talking about, she didn't know what to do. There was no concern for the baby. No one asked me any questions about the baby. Not even the family members when I went out there and talked to them, did they say...

Starting point is 00:20:28 You know, normally people, I would think, would say, was it a boy, a girl? You know, no one asked me. One question about the baby at all, not... I don't even know what to say. I've never seen anything like that. I've seen women that are only married, or not married, but pregnant for six weeks and they lose that baby, and they're a mess. You know what I mean? That girl went into that bathroom, made no sounds, and the baby came out of her. I don't even know how she functioned that way.

Starting point is 00:21:05 The only thing that upsets me the most is I understand she was scared, and I think her mother had a big dynamic on her, and I understand that. I mean, I think her mother was probably pretty controlling. I don't know that. I'm just speculation. But she gave me no chance to save that baby. I had no chance, and that's not what I do. My job is a safe life, and I had no chance on that baby.

Starting point is 00:21:31 She gave me no chance. And we are a facility that you can drop the baby off, no questions asked. You can just leave the baby and go. I don't care, you know, as long as you bring the baby to a safe. we are one of those type of hospitals, so it's hard to fathom. Finally, the police, along with hospital staff, proceeded to confront Alexi and her mother about what they had found in the bathroom. Oh my gosh.

Starting point is 00:22:04 I told you about this. I just asked you, baby, to tell me the truth. What did you do to it? Okay, stop right here. I'm the charge nurse. Do you guys have, I'm the charge nurse or do you guys have any questions? questions for me? Like how big is the baby? It's full term. What? Nine months? Let's see. Have you watched the news of beat the girls that what they do to their babies and what they

Starting point is 00:22:40 go to jail? Class settled down. Today's lesson is on the Arco Rewards app. Try to stay with me. The fundamentals are simple. Earn at least five cents a gallon in rewards, then redeem them later for up to a dollar off every gallon. Now here's where it gets complicated. Loading the Arco Rewards to get started. Class dismissed. Savings of up to $1 per gallon redeemable with 20 rewards dollars in your loyalty account at participating locations terms and conditions apply. So as it right now like I'm going to say this we're going to have the detectives come over here and they're going to talk to you okay. We have to gather some more information about what's going on. You don't get your statement. They're going to get the doctor's

Starting point is 00:23:32 statements. They're going to get everybody's statements. Okay. So I don't know everything yet, okay? So I'm not going to tell you, I can't tell you nothing on it. All I'm going to say is, okay? But she's not going to go to jail. Right now, no, well, right now she's being detained. So she's not going to leave from here at all, period. Okay, so one of us will be in your custody, right? Yeah, she's detained. Yeah, she's not under arrest, but she is detained. Okay, she's not free to leave. So while this whole thing is coming up is you're not free to leave, okay? One of us will be in here the whole time with you because you're not going to try to leave or Now, Alexi's case isn't even an anomaly.

Starting point is 00:24:09 We've covered several cases over the past few years where a mother gave birth to a baby and attempted to hide her pregnancy. Two cases in particular that stand out are the cases of Skylar Richardson and Kenesha Berry. Both of these mothers claimed their babies were still born, and both of their cases had very different outcomes. Schuyler was found guilty of abuse of a corpse and received three years probation, which were ended early by the court. Kinesha, however, was initially sentenced to death.

Starting point is 00:24:40 But in May of 2007, her sentence was overturned, and she was resendenced to life in prison with the possibility of parole after 40 years. Finally, there was the case of Jakela Williams, who knowingly threw her newborn into a trash compactor simply because, and these are her words, babies are too expensive. Her case, as well as Alexei Treviso's case, have yet to reach a conclusion. So where does this leave us with regards to Mia McQuillan? We'll have to see. In France, the charge of murder is punishable by up to 30 years in prison.

Starting point is 00:25:17 However, France actually has stricter laws for those who seek to hurt children. Murder of a child under the age of 15, which is what Mia is facing, could send her to prison for life. And no matter where you stand on the aisle when it comes to access to birth control and reproductive health care, That baby boy didn't deserve to come into this world only to be hurled from a second-story window and into the garbage.

The Misery Machine - The Case of Mia McQuillin

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