Jailed Parents Told to Show Baby
A T T L E B O R O, Mass., Feb. 14 -- A couple who belong to a small religious sect that eschews modern medicine have been jailed for contempt of court after they refused to give information about a baby the couple says was never born.
David and Rebecca Corneau say Rebecca was pregnant, but suffered a miscarriage in November. State child welfare officials, however, think the baby may have been born and that the parents are hiding the child or the truth about what happened to it.
The Corneaus belong to a religious sect called "The Body" that is comprised of 13 adult residents of Attleboro, a town about 10 miles northeast of Providence, R.I. Members shun modern medicine, education and the government. They will not even wear eyeglasses. Authorities say the group is a cult that endangers the lives of children.
The couple hid a previous stillbirth from state authorities, and three other members of the group face charges in connection with the 1999 death of a 10-month-old baby who prosecutors say was starved to death.
Judge Kenneth Nasif of Attleboro Juvenile Court ordered the Corneaus jailed for contempt for 30 days for failing to either produce their live baby or say where the miscarried fetus is buried.
When Rebecca Corneau was pregnant with another child in 2000, Nasif ordered her locked up to ensure the safety of the baby. The infant girl, called "Baby Corneau" by the court, was placed in foster care. The couple's three elder children are also in state custody.
Two Tiny Bodies
"The Body" came to authorities' attention in 1999, when two children of sect members were believed to be missing. David Corneau, the father of one of the missing children, was sent to jail when he refused to help find them. When he was granted immunity, he led investigators to a remote state park in Maine, where they found two tiny bodies.
One was that of the Corneaus' son, Jeremiah, who had died during home childbirth. The Corneaus were not prosecuted, but state officials attribute the baby's death to their rejection of modern medicine.
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