ST. CLOUD, Fla. — Authorities responding to a 911 call said they found a baby dead inside a St. Cloud apartment on Wednesday.
A source told WFTV the baby was found in a bag that had been stuffed in a closet in one of the units of the Neptune Bay apartments on Neptune Bay Circle.
Police said the child's mother was 17 years old, and was trying to hide the pregnancy from her mother.
They said she texted a friend who rushed to the apartment and found the teen bleeding and in distress.
"All she told us was, 'My friend was here. She text me and told me, 'I'm in trouble, I need help,'" said Chad Durham of the St. Cloud Police Department.
When police responded, they said they found the newborn dead inside the unit and then rushed the baby's mother to the hospital.
"There was a little piece of something, bloody something on the bottom of the stairwell. I asked about it and they covered it up with evidence cones," said neighbor Adam Chezem.
Authorities said they questioned a teen identified as the baby's father. Detectives said he was cooperative, and said they're also talking to the baby's mother in the hospital.
The mother is recovering, officials said.
"Do you think a crime happened in this apartment this morning?" WFTV reporter Nancy Alvarez asked.
"At this time, we're treating it as a suspicious incident," said Durham.
The medical examiner removed the baby from the apartment, and detectives said an autopsy will determine how the newborn died and if the teen will face any charges.