The discovery of an abandoned, dead newborn baby in a Waikiki hotel room has prompted a push to raise awareness of Hawaii’s Baby Safe Haven law through posts on social media.
The law allows people to surrender unharmed infants up to 3 days old at a hospital, fire or police station with immunity from prosecution for abandonment. The goal is to keep unwanted babies safe.
"We want to have an ambitious, coordinated campaign to heighten awareness of Hawaii’s Baby Safe Haven law," said Rep. John Mizuno, vice speaker of the House and author of the law, which passed in 2007. "Ultimately if we can do this, it will carry over to the tourism sector as well as military families and Hawaii’s youth."
Mizuno hopes to reach people through a radio, news and social media campaign featuring young people speaking about the law. "If we can get our word out through YouTube and videos, a lot of our youth will re-post and Facebook and re-tweet, and perhaps we can save a life," he said.
The Honolulu Police Department has opened a second-degree murder investigation in connection with the infant’s death, according to police spokeswoman Michelle Yu.
The baby was found in a room at the Sheraton Waikiki Hotel at about 7 p.m. Wednesday. The child’s mother, a 32-year-old Korean national who was visiting Hawaii with her husband, was arrested a few hours later.
She was released Friday without charges, pending further investigation, Yu said. Second-degree murder is defined in Hawaii as intentionally or knowingly causing the death of another person.
An autopsy was conducted Thursday by the medical examiner, but results are pending and may not be available for several weeks. It is not clear whether the baby was born alive.
The Visitor Aloha Society of Hawaii, which helps travelers in crisis, was contacted by police at 2:30 a.m. Thursday and offered help to the husband, including a Korean-language interpreter.
"We provided assistance to the husband, who obviously was very upset by everything that happened," said Jessica Lani Rich, the society’s president and CEO. "He was very grateful for our assistance and our moral support."
The husband moved to another hotel and later checked out, she said. The society has not been in touch with him since Thursday, she said, adding that the Korean Consulate stepped in to provide assistance.
The consulate did not respond to a call from the Honolulu Star-Advertiser seeking more information. It is not clear whether the couple has returned to Korea. Because no charges were filed against her, the mother may leave Hawaii, according to the prosecutor’s office.
Mike Morrisey, a founder and co-director of the Baby Safe Haven New England group, is working with Mizuno to encourage awareness of safe-surrender laws. His group has recruited young musicians and performers to visit radio and television stations and upload videos to spread the word nationally.
"Nowadays everything is done through the Internet," Morrisey said. "You’ve got to get into those networks. Then those networks spread it all over the world."
Renee Marcou, a 24-year-old singer-songwriter based in Boston, has been a spokeswoman for the cause for six years, with numerous radio and television appearances on behalf of Baby Safe Haven.
"We’ve had a great success rate in New England," she said. "However, some of the other states aren’t doing as well because they don’t have young people speaking about this law. That’s kind of our mission right now, is to get every state to get a spokesperson between the ages of 16 and 30 to get people talking about it more."
Young people are more likely to listen to their peers, she said, noting that’s the age range when a woman is most likely to surrender her baby. In Hawaii, babies who are relinquished may later be reunited with relatives or put up for adoption.
