BALTIMORE (Reuters) - Two doctors have been charged with murder after an investigation into a botched abortion uncovered 35 fetuses in a Maryland clinic's freezer, authorities said on Friday, calling the case the first of its kind in the state.
The doctors, Steven Chase Brigham, 55, and Nicola Irene Riley, 46, were arrested on fugitive warrants on Wednesday, police in Elkton, Maryland said.
"They have been indicted based upon a fetal homicide statute. This is probably the first case that Maryland has ever seen with this factual scenario using this statute. It's a unique situation," Cecil County State's Attorney Ellis Rollins told Reuters in an interview.
Brigham is charged with five counts of first-degree murder, five counts of second-degree murder and conspiracy to commit first-degree murder, Elkton police said.
Riley is charged with one count each of first-degree murder, second-degree murder and conspiracy to commit first-degree murder.
Brigham was arrested on Wednesday in Voorhees, New Jersey, according to a statement by the Elkton Police Department.
Riley was arrested at her home in Salt Lake City, Utah, without incident, according to Lt. Justin Hoyal, spokesman for the Unified Police of Greater Salt Lake.
Prosecutors were expected to seek their extradition back to Maryland.
The investigation began in August 2010, when a young woman sought an abortion from the pair.
The abortion was induced in New Jersey, and the patient was then transported across state lines into Maryland, according to the Elkton police statement.
FETUSES FOUND IN FREEZER
The operation was botched with both Brigham and Riley present, Elkton police said, although the statement did not elaborate on the nature of complications.
Riley took the woman to a nearby hospital, police said. The woman, who was not identified by authorities, survived and was later moved to Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore.
Rollins declined to say why he believed the frozen fetuses were being kept at the clinic or what specifically led to the murder charges, saying that his office would not comment on pending litigation.
Riley had her medical licenses suspended by the state of Maryland, according to the Maryland State Board of Physicians.
Brigham was ordered in 2010 to cease and desist from practicing medicine in the state of Maryland without a license, according to the state medical board.
Documents show that Brigham also had his license suspended by the New Jersey Board of Medical Examiners in October 2010 after officials found that he had performed second- and third-trimester abortions without authorization.
The board further noted that Brigham was not an obstetrician-gynecologist, and that his actions had endangered his patients.
The board's stated decision for the revocation "focused on his practice of starting late-term abortions in New Jersey, where he was not authorized to perform them, and finishing them in Maryland, where he was not licensed to practice medicine," according to a report by the state attorney general.
Brigham has performed approximately 50 such cross-state abortions, according to documents on the Maryland state medical board's website.
Officers who searched the Elkton clinic found several fetuses in a freezer, police said.
A source who spoke to Reuters on condition of anonymity said there were 35 fetuses found in the clinic freezer.
An Elkton Police spokesman deferred further questions to Kerwin Miller, the assistant state's attorney for Cecil County who is prosecuting the case.
Miller could not be reached for comment.
Attorneys for Riley and Brigham also could not be reached for comment on Friday afternoon.
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