Blaha learned about her pregnancy in April and confirmed Thoma was the father of the child, court papers show. The pair already have a two-year-old son together.

Since then, Blaha allegedly admitted that she and Thoma tried to cause a miscarriage but were unsuccessful. A review of the couple’s cellphones revealed they made searches on how to force a miscarriage, authorities allege.

Webster County Jail/AP/Shutterstock

Taylor K. Blaha, Brandon D. Thoma

Thoma placed the infant in a “plastic storage container, wrapping her in multiple layers of trash bags, and then placing her inside a black backpack that he carried out of the apartment,” he allegedly told police. When he returned home on Nov. 17, the backpack was allegedly empty.

Text messages between Blaha and Thoma confirmed that Thoma initially discarded Kayleen’s body in a wooded area near the Kenyon Road Bridge, the affidavit states. However, multiple searches of that location were unsuccessful.

Then, on Dec. 5,Thoma told authoritiesthat he would take them to Kayleen’s remains, according to the criminal complaint against Thoma. He allegedly claimed her remains were in a rural area north of the North Central Iowa Regional Landfill, but after a full excavation of that area, authorities found no sign of her body.

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A Nov. 23 search of their apartment found “an object consistent with an umbilical cord or remains of a human placenta” in the top drawer of a dresser, which is where Blaha claimed it would be, authorities said.

Thoma and Blaha are being held in the Webster County Jail on $1 million cash-bonds,WHO13 reports.It’s not immediately clear if the suspects have entered a plea or retained an attorney to comment on their behalf.

source: people.com