An Iowa woman will learn her fate next week, nearly two years after she allegedly murdered and abandoned her newborn with the help of her father.
Megan K. Staude, 28, pleaded guilty to second-degree murder in July as part of a plea agreement with prosecutors. She was initially charged with first-degree murder. She now faces 50 years in prison when she is sentenced on September 22, according to records.
Her father, Rodney Staude, 67, is still accused of first-degree murder. He also has a court date on September 22 and a potential trial date of October 15.
Rodney Staude had issues with his competency to stand trial last year, but was deemed competent in August, according to local NBC affiliate WHO.
The investigation began on March 8, 2023, when the Norwalk Police Department received a call from a concerned citizen regarding the safety of a child.
The next day, police found the dead newborn on a snowy road in Warren County’s 5300 block of Delaware Street. Investigators determined Megan Staude gave birth in late February 2023, placed the baby in a box, and ignored the boy’s cries for two days.
The Staudes allegedly placed the infant in a trash bag while he was still alive. Prosecutors claim they dumped the trash bag in a ditch alongside the road.
According to local CBS affiliate KCCI, Megan Staude’s coworkers expressed their concerns that day. They noticed she wasn’t pregnant anymore and became suspicious — at least one neighbor was shocked but not surprised.
“I was really shocked. Chris Hentschel reportedly told KCCI that he was not surprised given the vibe they gave. “They were kinda weird.”
The report stated that the home where Megan Staude gave birth was deemed “unsafe to occupy.”
As Law&Crime previously reported, investigators allege that Rodney Staude assisted his daughter in abandoning the victim in a ditch rather than bringing the baby to a Safe Haven, as defined by Iowa law.
The Safe Haven Act is a law that allows parents — or another person who has the parent’s authorization — to leave an infant up to 90 days old at a hospital or health care facility without fear of prosecution for abandonment. A parent may also contact 911 and relinquish physical custody of an infant up to 90 days old to a first responder of the 911 call. More than 50 children have been declared safe havens since the Iowa law was enacted in 2002. All states have Safe Haven laws, although provisions differ.
WHO IS A SAFE HAVEN?
A Safe Haven is an institutional health facility – such as a hospital or health care facility or a first responder who responds to the 911 telephone call.
According to the law – an “institutional health facility” means:
A “hospital” as defined in Iowa Code section 135B.1, including a facility providing medical or health services that is open twenty-four hours per day, seven days per week and is a hospital emergency room, or
A “health care facility” as defined in Iowa Code section 135C.1 means a residential care facility, a nursing facility, an intermediate care facility for persons with mental illness, or an intermediate care facility for persons with an intellectual disability.
According to the law, “first responder” means an emergency medical care provider, a registered nurse staffing an authorized service program under section 147A.12, a physician assistant staffing an authorized service program under section 147A.13, a fire fighter, or a peace officer as defined in section 801.4.
Norwalk Police Chief Greg Staples previously told Law&Crime that it has been a “difficult” and “emotional investigation” for everyone involved.
“Luckily justice is being served for the baby who didn’t have any say-so in what happened to him,” Staples said. She praised the police officers who “buckled down and solved a case of this magnitude so quickly.”
Staples stated that a cadaver dog named Montana from the search and rescue group Iowa SAR K9 discovered the baby covered in snow.
“Safe Haven laws are there for a reason,” Staples emphasized. “It is a shame that because the Safe Haven laws weren’t used in this case we have the death of a newborn and two people in jail charged with the most serious crime that there is.”
The police chief hoped that shedding light on this tragic case would ensure that nothing similar happened again.
“If there’s one thing that’s good that comes out of this investigation it’s that someone pregnant out there will see this story and their baby will have a life to live unlike this baby,” says Staples.
