Anchorage Daily News

On a recent visit to family in Colorado, 22-year-old Morgan Hite of Wasilla gave birth to a child then fled back to Alaska without the newborn boy, according to Grand Junction police. The infant's body was discovered hidden in a bedroom weeks after it had been killed.

Hite was charged Tuesday with first-degree murder and child abuse resulting in death, according to Alaska State Troopers, who assisted with the investigation and arrest on the Colorado charges.

Grand Junction police have been in Alaska since last week investigating the death of the child, whose body was found in the home of Hite's father and stepmother the morning of April 29, said police chief Bill Gardner.

"The pathologist has determined the baby was alive at birth," he said. "We know that she didn't report anything to the authorities. ... The baby was found by the stepmother and her father in her bedroom. The infant had been deceased for some time."

Police have not disclosed the cause of the child's death. It was unclear exactly how long the newborn boy had been hidden in the bedroom, though Gardner said it was likely a period of weeks. The exact time frame would have to be determined by the medical examiner, he said.

The child's body went undiscovered for so long because it was concealed in a place that was not easy to find, Gardner said. He would not elaborate on where that was, saying reporters would have to get such information from court records in Colorado, which were not immediately available Tuesday.

Police were uncertain of Hite's possible motive, Gardner said. Investigators know she gave birth to the baby in Grand Junction and that she fled Colorado shortly thereafter, he said, but it was unclear when she returned to Alaska.

"It's a complex case," Gardner said. "It's going to be a difficult case to prosecute."

Hite was arrested Tuesday afternoon when investigators with the Alaska Bureau of Investigation contacted her at the Palmer troopers' post and arrested her on a warrant Grand Junction police had gotten from a Colorado judge.

She was booked at the Mat-Su Pre-Trial Facility on $500,000 cash bail on an Alaska charge of being a fugitive from justice, according to troopers. The Colorado charges do not allow her to be released on bail, Grand Junction police said.

According to court records, Hite has received a number of traffic tickets in recent years but has no criminal history in Alaska.

She has another 4-year-old child, who has been removed from her custody and given to its father in Wasilla, Gardner said.

Messages left at a listing for Hite at the Grand Junction address where the child's body was found were not immediately returned.

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