EVERETT — The teen reportedly left her fractured home more than a year before detectives made a public plea for help finding her.
By October, they believed she might have delivered a baby while on heroin and without any medical attention.
The Snohomish County Sheriff’s Office caught up with her earlier this week, but have found no sign of the baby, believed to be a girl.
Leah Lund, 16, was listed in court records as “a long-term missing/runaway” until she was arrested along Casino Road on a warrant Monday. Deputies have not been able to obtain information that would help locate the child believed to have been born in September.
“We’re still investigating,” sheriff’s office spokeswoman Shari Ireton said Thursday.
In 2013, when Lund was 14, a court granted a protection order prohibiting her father from having contact. Police reports indicate he disciplined her with a belt.
He later faced allegations of violating the court order for showing up at the south Everett home. Even though the girl wasn’t there at the time, the home was considered her residence.
Deputies received two reports of her father at the home in September 2014.
“I believe Leah has run away because of (her father’s) presence,” a deputy wrote at the time.
In one instance, a police dog bit the man on the hip when he hid in a boarded-up carport, records show.
At the time, the girl’s mother told a deputy that the father had been threatening and that she wanted him removed, records show.
The father was found at the home again Tuesday. He was arrested for investigation of violating the protection order. He told a deputy that Leah had not been at the home in more than a year so he didn’t believe he was violating the order, records show.
Leah Lund remained at the Denney Juvenile Justice Center on Thursday. The day before she was given a 10-day sentence for violating probation conditions from a theft conviction. Her court-ordered supervision was extended to January. In the past, she had failed to comply with an order to get treatment for substance abuse.
In its Oct. 1 press release, the sheriff’s office wrote that Lund’s “infant daughter is considered endangered due to the lack of medical care and her mother’s alleged heroin use.”
Treating babies with mothers using heroin presents several challenges.
“A baby born to an opiate-addicted mother is at risk for withdrawal after birth,” said Dr. C. Ryan Keay, medical director at the Providence Regional Medical Center Everett emergency department. “In a neonate this can involve fairly extensive symptoms and require weaning.”
Such babies also are at risk of other transmitted infections the mother might have, such as hepatitis and HIV, Keay said.
State and federal law aims to protect newborns whose mothers might feel overwhelmed. In Washington, mothers can leave their newborns with a staff member or volunteer at any manned fire station or hospital emergency room — no questions asked.
Parents aren’t required to say anything, but are encouraged to share some information that could help care for the child. That information could include details about the child’s health, race, date of birth, place of birth or the medical history of the parents.
Eric Stevick: 425-339-3446; stevick@heraldnet.com.
Information sought
Detectives continue to look for information about the location of a baby they believe was born to 16-year-old Leah Lund in September. Anyone with information is asked to call the Snohomish County Sheriff’s Office tip line at 425-388-3845.
Talk to us
> Give us your news tips.
> Send us a letter to the editor.
> More Herald contact information.
