By Courtney Gousman
Rolla, MO (KSDK) - An unusual death that took place inside a Rolla hospital has police launching a death investigation. Investigators say the woman had just given birth at Phelps County Regional Medical Center days prior, but she was no longer a patient. NewsChannel 5 spent the day in Rolla looking for answers.
The hospital's CEO John Denbo says the mother gave birth to her newborn son on Friday, but had since been released from the hospital. She was coming back as a visitor to check on her newborn son, who had been kept for observation.
She was found dead Monday morning in a hospitality room and now several entities are investigating.
"O.B.'s a happy place generally speaking and this is not a happy event. This is a very tragic event," said Denbo.
Denbo says his staff is now looking into the death of 25 year- old Stephanie Maylee, a mother who had just given birth and was found dead in a private hospitality room at the hospital Monday morning.
Maylee was no longer a patient of the hospital. She was released Sunday afternoon, after giving birth to a boy by c-section, nearly three hours after walking in the hospital on Friday.
"There apparently had been some discussion, 'Well, you can't take your baby home with you yet, your baby's not ready to go home, but you can come back and visit," said Denbo.
The CEO says the mother came back hours after being released, to check on her son. She was last seen by hospital staff around 2:30 Monday morning. Maylee was discovered dead more than seven hours later, just before 10 Monday morning.
Rolla Police are now investigating the death.
"There was no gunshot wounds or any gaping wounds or anything like that. What we're doing now is trying to determine what the cause of death was, whether it was a suspicious death or a natural causes death," said Captain Jason Smith of the Rolla Police Department.
An autopsy was performed on Maylee Tuesday afternoon, and the Phelps County Coroner says he has yet to determine a cause of death. He's waiting for toxicology results to come back.
The hospital's C.E.O. says it doesn't appear that Maylee's c-section was planned, but there was nothing unusual about the procedure either.
"We're looking at it from a medical standpoint to ensure ourselves that she received all exactly the right care," said Denbo.
Denbo says the child is still in the hospital. The State's Division of Child Services, as well as the child's grandparents are now involved to figure out who will gain custody of the newborn baby.
KSDK