‘Heartbroken, empty’: Ohio woman criminally charged after miscarriage speaks out

WARREN, Ohio (WJW) — A 33-year-old Ohio woman arrested on a felony charge after having a miscarriage at her home in September is working to clear her name and deal with the tragic outcome of her pregnancy.

“I was distraught, heartbroken, empty — literally and figuratively, so to speak,” Brittany Watts said in a text message to the I-Team at Nexstar’s WJW Monday night. She was describing how she felt after she miscarried her pregnancy.

Watts sought medical treatment at Mercy Health St. Joseph Warren Hospital, located about 60 miles east of Cleveland, during the third week of September. She was having severe cramping and bleeding.

“She was told very clearly the fetus was not viable and could not and would not survive,” said attorney Traci Timko, who represents Watts.

Watts was admitted to the hospital twice that week but left after waiting in a room for several hours. Friday of that week, Watts miscarried in the bathroom of her Warren home. She was 22 weeks and one day pregnant.

Timko said this was her client’s first pregnancy. She didn’t tell anyone in her family she was pregnant. After the miscarriage, she flushed her toilet. The toilet overflowed and she used a bucket to try and clean up. Timko said Watts was desperately trying not to let anyone in her family know about the miscarriage, so she kept a hair appointment and went to the salon.  However, a few minutes after she got there, her hairdresser was concerned and called her mother.

Watts was then taken to the hospital.

She thought she was going for treatment and didn’t anticipate that police would be called.

But shortly after Watts arrived at the hospital, a nurse called 911. WJW obtained a copy of the 911 call.

“This is the hospital, labor and delivery, at St. Joe’s and I need to speak to an officer about a case that I have here,” the nurse told the dispatcher. “She was sent here with bleeding on Tuesday and that night she left, against medical advice. She came back in on Wednesday still bleeding and said, ‘Maybe I do need to be seen.’ So we readmitted her and we were talking her through everything and she disappeared.”

According to the 911 call, the nurse also told the dispatcher that Watts told her she put the fetus in a bucket and placed the bucket outside of the house. She said Watts told her she didn’t want the baby. Warren police, however, went to the house and found the fetus stuck in the toilet.  Police seized the toilet and hauled it out for evidence. Weeks later, Watts was arrested on a felony charge of abuse of a corpse.

Timko is outraged over the criminal charge, especially with a young mother, scared and pregnant for the first time.

“It’s a lot of pain, it’s a lot of emotion, and she was terrified,“ Timko said. “There were so many things going on that she was trying to handle at one time.”

Watts texted us a statement about her arrest.

“When I was arrested I felt anger, scared, betrayed, confused, nervous,” Watts stated. “Every negative emotion you could conjure up in the English language, I felt it.”

Nexstar’s WKBN was in court during the preliminary hearing for Watts. The hearing was held Nov. 2 in Warren Municipal Court. During the hearing, Warren police Detective Nick Carney took the stand.

“She said she felt the baby come out and there was a big splash,” Carney said during the hearing.

Warren Assistant City Prosecutor Lewis Guarnieri told the judge during that hearing that Watts put the fetus in the toilet and left the fetus there.

A forensic pathologist also testified there were no injuries found on the fetus and that the fetus died before passing through the birth canal.

The case was bound over to a Trumbull County grand jury and is now in the hands of Trumbull County prosecutors.

Trumbull County Assistant Prosecutor Diane Barber told WJW that while she is unable to specifically speak about the case, her office was “compelled” to move forward once it was bound over from municipal court. She added she did not expect a grand jury to decide the case this month.

Barber also added that about “20 percent” of cases presented to the grand jury get no-billed, meaning no indictment is issued and the case does not go forward.

WJW reached out to Warren Police Chief Eric Merkel about the case and asked if he was going to look into how the matter was handled. He sent the following statement:

The Warren Police Department received a call from the hospital regarding this incident. We investigated it and then consulted with prosecutors in the Warren Municipal Court. They allowed the charge to be filed. The Prosecutor’s Office makes the final determination whether or not charges are filed. A preliminary hearing was held on this case and the Judge determined there was probable cause to send this case to the Trumbull County Grand Jury for review.

Warren Police Chief Eric Merkel

WJW also sent an email to the hospital asking to discuss the matter. A spokesperson responded that out of “respect for patient privacy, we will not discuss individual specifics of care.”

Two city lawmakers, however, said they are concerned about how the case was handled and would like the city police department and the city prosecutor’s office to handle the matter differently.

“It’s terrible, absolutely terrible,” said Warren Councilman Ken MacPherson. “If this is your family member, would you want this kind of tragedy to end with a prosecutorial felony? Come on. This is wrong.”

Warren Councilwoman Helen Rucker agreed, saying she doesn’t believe Watts should have been criminally charged.

“What happened was a natural occurrence,” Rucker said. “The only one that can be accountable for that is the creator, so if you are not going to charge God, don’t charge her.”

Timko said she believes her client will be cleared. She added that there is no law that requires women to bury or cremate miscarriage remains.

“Ohio law is on our side,” Timko said.

Friends of Watts started a GoFundMe to help her pay her legal bills.