Mother taken into custody after baby reported kidnapped found dead

CHESTERFIELD COUNTY, S.C. -- (WSOC) -- A 19-year-old mother has been taken into custody after a child who was the subject of an Amber Alert in Chesterfield County, SC was found dead Tuesday afternoon.

Deputies said the woman told them a man punched her and then ripped 11-month-old Harlee Lane Lewis from her arms as she walked out to her mailbox on Jackson Road East northeast Chesterfield at about 2 p.m. He then sped off in an SUV.

But Chesterfield County Sheriff Jay Brooks said deputies searched the area and found the body of the infant in a plastic bag hidden inside a diaper box about 1,000 yards from the home.

Sheriff Brooks told Channel 9 the 19-year-old is the primary suspect in the case and he believes she made up the abduction story.

"She was home alone with that child since early this morning. Nobody heard anything. Nobody saw anything," he said.

Brooks also said the mother had recently been in a car accident, and that's where she got the injuries she said she got from the kidnapper.

The woman has not been identified and she has not yet been charged.

"It may be wrongful disposal of body, may be not reporting child death, may be murder, not sure," said Brooks.