ATTLEBORO, Mass., Feb 06, 2002 (United Press International via COMTEX) – A cult couple that shuns government and modern medicine was in jail Wednesday for contempt of court for refusing to tell a Massachusetts judge where their newborn child was.
Rebecca and David Corneau were handcuffed and led off to jail after a hearing Tuesday at which their attorney claimed there was no child, that it had been stillborn.
"I cannot buy that," said Attleboro Juvenile Court Judge Kenneth P. Nasif, who demanded the Corneaus disclose where the baby is or where its remains are buried.
He said the Corneaus would remain in jail until a Feb. 14 hearing, after which he said he would send them back to jail unless they cooperate.
Nasif found the Corneaus in contempt three weeks ago after they declined to even admit there was a baby, claiming to do so would violate their constitutional rights to privacy and against self-incrimination.
The judge last year took the couple's four daughters from them, ruling the Corneaus unfit to be parents because they buried another infant that had been stillborn. That infant's body was unearthed in remote Maine along with another cult child who authorities believe was starved to death.
At Tuesday's hearing, Corneau attorney J.W. Carney told the court the latest pregnancy ended in miscarriage.
"There is no live baby Corneau," Carney said. "There never was."
The judge chastised Carney and the Corneaus for waiting until the case had dragged through three appeals before claiming there was no infant. The state Supreme Court earlier this week rejected the latest appeal to throw out the contempt citation.
"This is stunning information," Nasif said. "At the midnight hour to say, 'She had a miscarriage; dismiss the case,' I cannot buy that."
The couple then refused to tell the judge the whereabouts of the remains, again citing their constitutional rights.
"They won't tell the government where the fetus is so the government can go dig it up," Carney said.
Carol Yelverton, spokeswoman for the state Department of Social Services, said the agency would continue efforts to find the infant if it is still alive and being hidden.
Yelverton said the state's concern "would be that Rebecca Corneau had a live birth and because of a lack of medical care, the baby died."
The state believes a lack of medical care also contributed to the death of their infant, Jeremiah Corneau, during a 1999 home birth.
In October 2000, the state forced Rebecca Corneau to deliver a child in a prison hospital because they were concerned for the safety of the infant.
Jacques and Karen Robidoux, two other members of the cult known as "The Body," are in jail awaiting trial on murder charges stemming from the death of their son, Samuel, who was the other infant found buried in Maine.