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Bizarre Baby Death in White Cloud

One from this area could not help but notice the similarities between this case and the Baby Kate case. A four month old female baby originally is declared missing while under the care of its young father. The father is taken into custody as the prime suspect.

In this case, the baby winds up being found in the man's mother's basement, and he starts to talk, saying he woke up from a drug induced sleep to find her dead. The mother, who appears to have been elsewhere while this happened, and the police, are looking for truthful answers. An autopsy and other evidence may be the only way they get those, as the man claims his innocence in the death, but admits his culpability in the hiding of the baby. The WOOD reports follows:

WHITE CLOUD, Mich. (WOOD) – Natallya Rich, the Newaygo County baby whose body was found in the basement of her grandmother’s home on Tuesday night, was in the care of 25-year-old Matthew Bradley when she died, court documents show.

Bradley, who has been arraigned on one felony count of concealing a death of an individual and being a habitual offender, was watching the 4-month-old on Saturday when he took a nap and woke to find her dead, according to the documents. He also admitted to investigators he had used methamphetamine, norco pills and morphine before and after the baby’s death.

Bradley, who police say is Natallya’s father, told police he tried to perform CPR on the baby after he realized she wasn’t breathing and had no heartbeat, the documents show.

When Natallya’s mother, Brittany Rich, returned home from work, the documents show Bradley told her to be quiet because the baby was “sleeping.” He admitted to investigators he was “scared to tell anyone Natallya was in fact dead.”

He then allegedly put Natallya’s body in a car seat and took it to Rich’s mother’s house in White Cloud, where he put it in a crawl space in the basement.

During Bradley’s arraignment Thursday morning, Brittany Rich was very emotional and begged Bradley to “tell the truth.”

Rich said police told her Natallya’s body was found in her mother’s basement Tuesday night. She testified she was with Bradley when they were picked up by police that same night and she believed Bradley when he told her their baby was with his sister and then a babysitter.

“I want truthful answers. I want to know why he did it and what happened,” Rich said on the stand. ”Something had to happen, but regardless, he should have called 911 not like she was nothing.”

Police said Bradley admitted to using drugs before and after Natallya disappeared and crime scene investigators found syringes, items to make meth and controlled substances in the family’s home.

Rich admitted to knowing Bradley had a drug problem.

Bradley’s bond was set Thursday at $150,000 – a higher amount than usual due to the fact he had gone to Germany to avoid a previous police investigation.

Authorities are still waiting on autopsy results to determine Natallya’s cause of death.

Bizarre Baby Death in White Cloud

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