Infant's Cause of Death Remains Under Investigation

Lillington, N.C. — An autopsy report is inconclusive as to the cause of death of an 11-month-old girl whose remains were found in her mother's attic last fall.

Authorities found the body of Harmony Jade Creech on Oct. 20 in the attic of the home her mother, Johni Michelle Heuser, was renting in Spring Lake. The baby had been wrapped in a plastic bag and stuffed in an empty diaper box in a corner of the attic, authorities said.

The body was so badly decomposed that medical examiners weren't able to determine a cause of death, said Maj. Gary McNeil, of the Harnett County Sheriff's Office.

The remains have been sent to other agencies for further testing, and the case is still under investigation.

Heuser, 25, of 1680 Ray Road in Spring Lake, has been charged with first-degree murder in the case. She told investigators that she found the baby dead in her crib weeks earlier and hid the death out of fear.

When the child's father, Sgt. Ronald Creech II, a member of the 82nd Airborne Division at Fort Bragg, returned from a 15-month deployment in Iraq, Heuser claimed the baby had been abducted, prompting a statewide Amber Alert.