Couple Say Tricked by Mom Accused of Murder

March 15 -- A California couple say they tried to adopt the baby carried by a Salt Lake City mother who was charged with murder for refusing to have a Caesarean section.

Prosecutors are investigating whether Melissa Ann Rowland, the woman charged with killing her baby by refusing a Caesarean section, tried to scam a couple by offering to sell them the non-existent child for bail money.

Rowland, 28, accused of refusing a C-section for her unborn twins because she reportedly feared scarring, has been jailed on criminal homicide and child endangerment charges.

Meanwhile, a Sacramento couple is now saying that Rowland offered to give them a boy if they paid her $5,000 bail.

Anna Marxson and Brian Farley said they were unaware that Rowland had already given birth to a stillborn baby boy and thought she was in jail only on child endangerment charges.

Farley said he and his wife agreed to accept collect telephone calls from Rowland from jail. The calls began Feb. 26 and ended March 2, he said.

Meanwhile, Anna Marxson and Brian Farley, a married couple who were put in contact with Rowland via an adoption agency, said they spoke to the mother on Feb. 26, and had no idea that she had already given birth to twins — a girl, who survived, and a boy, who was still born — a month earlier.

Brian Farley said Rowland offered them her new son.

Popular Reads

Trump says US will guide ships out of Strait of Hormuz

• May 3, 9:04 PM

Former NYC mayor Rudy Giuliani hospitalized in critical condition

• May 4, 1:50 AM

US being 'humiliated' by Iran, German chancellor says

• Apr 28, 3:05 AM

"If I got her out of jail, I could adopt her son," Farley said.

"She was just using us to help her get out of jail," said his wife Marxson.

Prosecutors charged Rowland with exhibiting "depraved indifference to human life." One nurse told police Rowland declined to have the procedure, saying she would rather "lose one of the babies than be cut like that."

When she offered her baby for adoption, Rowland said she was a couple days late giving birth, but she already knew it would be a boy, Farley said. Rowland also said she worked in a fast food restaurant and couldn't be a parent, but she wanted the child to have a loving home, Farley said.