Was she pregnant?
That is the question still baffling state investigators after they knocked on the door of Rebecca Corneau, a member of a religious sect in Attleboro, yesterday morning.
The officials were turned away, said Ed Sirois, chief of staff for the Bristol County district attorney's office, and authorities said they still don't know whether Corneau, who does not appear pregnant now, carried what would have been her sixth child.
''We need to determine whether or not there was a pregnancy and if the infant is safe,'' said Carol Yelverton, a spokeswoman for the Department of Social Services.
Still at the center of a controversy over civil rights and religious freedom, the Attleboro sect, called The Body, adheres to a strict interpretation of the Bible and rejects modern law and medicine. It became the focus of a Bristol County investigation after a former sect member reported in 1999 that two of the group's children were missing and presumed dead.
Two years ago, Corneau's stillborn child was found buried in Maine's Baxter State Park alongside his 10-month-old cousin, who authorities say was starved to death. With four other children already in state custody at the time, Corneau, 33, who has not been charged in connection with the deaths, was forced to deliver her last baby in a prison hospital in October 2000. That child was immediately placed in foster care.
But officials in the Bristol County district attorney's office are worried that she might have been expecting again.
Corneau appeared pregnant during recent court appearances, said officials, but she and her attorneys refused to answer questions on the matter, forcing Bristol District Attorney Paul Walsh to petition the court for a hearing.
''We filed it so we could view her because we heard she may have been carrying,'' Sirois said yesterday.
But during a court appearance last week, said Sirois, Corneau no longer appeared pregnant and prosecutors were forced to withdraw the petition. They filed a complaint with the Department of Social Services instead.
''It's in the hands of DSS right now,'' Sirois said. ''They approached the home this morning and knocked on the door ... They were not allowed in to check on her.''
Citing department policy, Yelverton would not say whether state officials attempted to visit with Corneau yesterday. But she acknowledged that the agency received a report about possible abuse and neglect involving the Corneaus.
''Should a baby have been born to the Corneaus, given the past history this group has had, we have very grave concerns,'' said Yelverton. ''And, if there is a baby, we need to make sure that baby is safe.''
Corneau has had five children, including her stillborn son, Jeremiah, who was secretly buried in 1999 with his cousin, Samuel Robidoux. Prosecutors allege that Samuel starved after his aunt said she had a vision from God instructing Samuel's parents to feed the baby nothing but almond milk. Samuel's parents, sect leader Jacques Robidoux and his wife, Karen, face murder charges in a trial expected to start in March.
Though DSS officials said they would not comment on details of an ongoing investigation, Walsh's office said that if Corneau refuses to cooperate, officials may file a petition to have her appear in court or to be examined by a doctor. ''We will continue to gather as much information as we can,'' said Yelverton. ''There is no medical proof she was pregnant, and we need to be extremely careful and judicious in this process.''