U.S. Water News Online
TULSA, Okla. -- Tulsa County sheriff's investigators are trying to find out who left a fetus at Tulsa's wastewater treatment plant. An employee discovered the fetus in a sewage disposal unit, Sgt. Scott Vickers said. The worker initially dug a grave near the plant and buried the fetus, but later decided to tell a supervisor, who called authorities, Vickers said. ``His conscience probably got the better of him,'' Vickers said of the employee. The plant is city property but is located outside city limits. It processes wastewater in several different units, but all the sewage removed from the water ends up in one unit, which is where the fetus was discovered, Vickers said. The officer said he assumed that the sewage ponds are locked down and that there are fences surrounding the entire facility. Tulsa Public Works Department officials were not available for comment. Because of where the fetus was discovered at the plant and the way the plant is set up, sheriff's officials think it was not flushed from somewhere else. It ``must have been brought here and dumped,'' Vickers said. ``There's no other way for it to get that far in the system.'' Upon initial examination, the medical examiner determined that it was a fetus and not a full-term baby, but the exact stage of development was not known. An autopsy is planned, Vickers said. Determining whether the death is a homicide may depend on how developed the fetus was, he said. Vickers was not sure if the plant employee would be criminally charged for moving the fetus and burying it. Prosecutors will determine what, if any, charges are filed. Investigators are searching for any possible locations where someone other than an employee could have entered the plant, Vickers said. ``Our No. 1 focus is to find out how the fetus got here and who the mother is.''
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