Marissa Fields claims her baby was stillborn, but Johnson County prosecutors believe the baby was breathing when Fields placed it in plastic bags and put it in the trash.
A Johnson County judge ruled Friday that there is enough evidence and ordered her to stand trial.
Fields is charged with first degree murder and child abandonment.
Fields was 19 years old in December 2014 when her dad, Gary Fields, discovered the baby's body in plastic bags in the garage of the Olathe home where they lived.
On the witness stand on Friday, Gary Fields choked back tears as he said that he and his son were searching in the trash for an envelope with money in it on Christmas Day when he discovered a heavy, squishy, plastic bag and opened it.
The next day Gary Fields called police.
The coroner, Dr. Charles Glenn, a forensic pathologist, said the baby girl was full term--19 inches, weighing five pounds and six ounces-- and the baby's lungs were expanded meaning she had taken a breath.
"I think the two most likely scenarios are the baby was born alive and left in a rush and no running water environment in the bathtub and died because of those conditions or the baby was born alive and placed in a bag and die from this Asphyxia," said Glenn.
The Olathe Police detective who questioned Marissa Fields about the coroner's findings said she was visibly upset when he told her the coroner said the baby was born alive.
"That's when she started qualifying some of the statements that--it could have taken a breath I didn't hear it I was crying that if he cried I didn't hear it but she still believed it was stillborn," said detective Chris Bowman
Marissa Fields will be back in court on April 14. That's when the judge is expected to a trial date.
Previous coverage:
- Woman charged with murder in death of her newborn baby
- Court docs: Mother charged with murder, newborn baby girl found dead in Olathe trash can
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Cynthia Newsome can be reached at cynthia.newsome@kshb.com.
