UNION TOWNSHIP, Pa. -- A woman in Luzerne County is facing a charge involuntary manslaughter for the death of her newborn last year.
State police say 39-year-old Andrea Litter of Wilkes-Barre left her infant in a bag after giving birth at a home near Shickshinny.
It was last November when state police swarmed a property on Route 239 near Shickshinny where they made a gruesome discovery.
The body of a newborn baby inside a bag outside the home.
Neighbors remember all the police activity.
“All of a sudden, state police, everybody's there, I don't know how many cars were over there, quite a few for quite some time,” said Tom Housenick.
Police have now charged the infant's mother, 39-year-old Andrea Litter of Wilkes-Barre with involuntary manslaughter.
Investigators learned Litter, who they say has a learning disability, gave birth to the baby inside that home on November 2 and left it in a bag outside near a burn pile.
“I heard about it, and I was really shocked and surprised, I didn't know what to think,” said Jaycee Arnold.
Court papers show Litter's foster sister and her husband live there.
And while Litter lives in Sherman Hills in Wilkes-Barre, she stays here during the week.
“Just shock, you don't want to believe that, they're good people, you know, we knew that she had some sort of shortcoming, intellectually, mentally,” said Housenick.
Court papers show police were alerted to what happened after staff at Wilkes-Barre General Hospital called Wilkes-Barre police the morning of November 3. They said a woman had been admitted the night before for a reported diabetic emergency.
State police say Litter was at her apartment that night after giving birth and when she passed out her boyfriend called 911.
At the hospital, the staff determined she recently gave birth and called the police.
Neighbors say this was an avoidable tragedy all around.
“Oh absolutely, certainly for the newborn child and the people she lived with,” said Housenick.
Andrea Litter is out on $100,000 bail.
She is due to be in court on October 1, 2019.