911 call released of dead newborn found in Phoenix McDonald’s last March

A woman with the Phoenix Fire Department gets on the line and tells the man somebody at the McDonald’s needs to get the child out of the toilet and start CPR.
Published: Feb. 2, 2023 at 8:07 PM MST

PHOENIX (3TV/CBS 5) -- A frustrated fire department dispatcher can be heard on a 911 call released on Thursday with the inaction of people inside a Phoenix McDonald’s where a dead newborn was found last spring. A man calls first responders around 2 p.m. on March 27 at the fast food restaurant near 33rd Avenue and Indian School Road. “I’m calling because somebody left a baby in the toilet seat, I guess,” the caller said. He told 911 customers could hear the baby crying three to four minutes before he called but said it looks dead. “It wasn’t even ready to be born. It’s just there. Everything is on the toilet, the guts, everything,” he said.

Police released the 911 call from a man who told dispatchers about a dead baby found at a Phoenix McDonald's last March.

A woman with the Phoenix Fire Department gets on the line and tells the man somebody at the McDonald’s needs to get the child out of the toilet and start CPR. “Get something clean you can get the baby on her back, we’ve got help coming,” the dispatcher said. “Nobody wants to take it out,” replied the man. “Somebody needs to do something to help the child. Get some gloves. Put it on something clean,” she said. The dispatcher asks if someone can do that. “Nobody is willing to do CPR to help the baby ... baby’s dead,” the man said.

The operator asks multiple times to take the baby out. After a few minutes, the man said he would try his best to take the baby out. When officers and firefighters arrived about seven minutes after the call, they tried to do CPR, but the baby was dead. Investigators later released a video of a woman seen leaving the bathroom about 20 minutes before the newborn was discovered. Police said on Thursday they are still working to identify the woman. The autopsy said the baby’s mom was roughly 24-26 weeks pregnant before giving birth. While it’s unclear if the baby was born alive or stillborn, the Medical Examiner’s Office said if the baby was alive, a possible cause of death includes drowning.