A judge on Tuesday ordered a psychiatric evaluation of a Waukegan woman accused of suffocating her newborn boy and stuffing him in a bathroom closet.
Valerie Cutrer, 33, of the 500 block of McAlister Avenue, has pleaded not guilty to first-degree murder. Cutrer was arrested Jan. 14 after she allegedly admitted to killing her full-term baby boy after giving birth in a bathroom in her home.
Prosecutors say Cutrer used medical tape to cover the newborn’s nostrils, stuffed his mouth with a wad of tissue, stuffed the baby in a plastic grocery bag, tied the handles together and hid the bundle in her bathroom closet behind a stack of towels.
Police found out about the dead baby after Cutrer was taken to the hospital for childbirth-related complications.
Assistant State’s Atty. Debbie Menas told Booras she expects Cutrer to use some form of an insanity defense.
Cutrer’s defense attorney, Jed Stone, said he has not decided on the defense.
Cutrer is scheduled to go on trial April 15.
