An 18-year-old Nebraska woman will spend 90 days in jail and have two years of probation after authorities say she burned and buried her aborted fetus with the help of her mother in 2022.
Celeste Burgess, of Norfolk, Nebraska, was sentenced Thursday after pleading guilty in May to a felony charge of concealing or abandoning a dead body.
The following misdemeanor charges were dropped in an agreement with prosecutors:
- False reporting
- Concealing the death of another person
“The Court specifically finds that while probation is appropriate, confinement is necessary because without this confinement, it would depreciate the seriousness of the crime or promote disrespect for the law,” the judge’s order read.
At the time of the abortion in April 2022, Celeste Burgess, who was 17, allegedly used abortion pills bought online to terminate the pregnancy which was in its third trimester. Officials stated that Jessica Burgess, Celeste Burgess’ 42-year-old mother, purchased the pills for her daughter.
In 2022, at the time of the pregnancy’s termination, Nebraska law banned abortions after 20 weeks of gestation. Abortions are currently banned in Nebraska after 12 weeks.
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After receiving a tip about Celeste Burgess’ abortion, Norfolk police opened an investigation into the abortion following a tip, according to an arrest affidavit, The Associated Press reported.
During their investigation, police gained access to Facebook messages between Celeste and Jessica Burgess through a search warrant, which prosecutors say contained details of how the women were to terminate the pregnancy with the medicine. Jessica Burgess also instructed Celeste Burgess on how to take the medicine in the messages.
Additionally, AP reported that in the messages Celeste talked “about how she can’t wait to get the ‘thing’ out of her body,” and that she “will finally be able to wear jeans.”
The two also discussed how to get rid of the remains, which the police found burned in a field north of Norfolk. Celeste and Jessica Burgess told the court that they burned and buried the fetus, which was stillborn, after delivering it.
Earlier this month, Jessica Burgess pleaded guilty to providing an illegal abortion, false reporting and tampering with human skeletal remains.
The following charges were dismissed in exchange for her guilty plea:
- Concealing the death of another person
- Abortion by someone other than a licensed physician
Jessica Burgess will be sentenced on Sept. 22.
The case began before the U.S. Supreme Court’s overturning of Roe V. Wade, which granted people the constitutional right to abortion.
Additionally, the case has raised some concerns surrounding whether law enforcement can request data, such as people’s locations or search histories, from social media companies to figure out the circumstances surrounding illegal abortions.
In August 2022, Meta released a post on its website about Facebook’s involvement in the case, stating that the search warrants were legal, received before the overturning of Roe v. Wade and did not mention abortion.
“Court documents indicate that police were at that time investigating the alleged illegal burning and burial of a stillborn infant. The warrants were accompanied by non-disclosure orders, which prevented us from sharing information about them. The orders have now been lifted.”
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Contributing: The Associated Press, Kate Perez, USA TODAY