Orlando police say the 30-year-old mother who allegedly abandoned her newborn baby earlier this week is not cooperating and showing no sign of concern for the child.

Susan Richardson made her first appearance before a judge Wednesday morning. She kept her head down in front of the judge most of the time, and the judge asked whether she was awake. The judge also ordered that she have no unsupervised contact with anyone under the age of 16.

Richardson is being held in the Orange County Jail on $50,000 bond.

Orlando Police say Susan Richardson would yawn when asked a question and would not provide any information to help find her newborn, other than that she knows her baby is being cared for by someone else.

"She told us she dropped the baby off at someone's apartment at the doorstep," Orlando Police Sgt. Wanda Ford said.

However, that's not something police readily believe. They also say there is no sign the baby left Willow Bend Apartments.

“She’s not telling us the entire story," Sgt. Ford said. "But we don’t know. We don’t know if she did drop the baby off at someone’s apartment.”

On Monday afternoon Orlando Police were called to the Willow Bend Apartments after residents found what turned out to be afterbirth in the parking lot.

Homicide investigators followed a trail of blood from the afterbirth to the front door of Richardson's home. According to an arrest affidavit, investigators found more blood in Richardson’s bedroom, bathroom and laundry room. Search dogs scoured the apartment, but no additional evidence was found.

Investigators noted that there were no diapers, baby carriages, cribs or other items to show that Richardson was preparing to take care of a newborn.

“Our biggest concern is that the baby is alive and that it’s safe," Sgt. Ford said.

Although police think Richardson discarded the baby sometime between 10 a.m. and noon Monday, Richardson has also claimed to have had a miscarriage.

The Orlando Fire Department was called to her home at about noon Monday for a possible miscarriage. Richardson was taken to Florida Hospital. She told staff there that she was only three to four months pregnant, had a miscarriage and did not mention anything about recently giving birth. The hospital released her, and a few hours later, neighbors found a human placenta in the parking lot of her apartment complex.

This is the third day in the search for "Baby Willow."

Police say the mother does not have a car and was possibly walking around with the infant sometime between 10 a.m. and noon in the area of the apartment complex.

"We want to find the baby — that's our No. 1 priority — and then obviously bring the mother to justice," Orlando Police Chief John Mina said.

Richardson has lengthy criminal record that includes assault and battery charges.

Anyone with information about this case is urged to call Orlando Police at 407-246-2470.

News 13 reporter Jerry Hume contributed to this report.


Susan Richardson (Orlando Police)