Teen father: Bad decisions, fear led to baby's death

"It was sad to see my daughter," said Aaron Davis, 18, who says he first saw his little girl, Emma Marie, at a funeral home.

Davis says the 16-year-old mother of his child was too afraid to tell anyone she was pregnant and chose to hide her growing stomach under large shirts and jackets.

"The last couple months, I kept trying to tell her to tell somebody," he said. "I was telling her to let somebody know."

Davis says the baby's mother texted him the morning her water broke, and they planned to meet at a church. But that never happened. Her next text was the terrible news.

"That was when she told me that the baby didn't make it," Davis said.

Franklin County authorities say the baby may have bled to death after a botched home delivery.

Sheriff Jerry Jones said preliminary autopsy results showed someone may have cut the baby girl's umbilical cord too closely and then failed to stop the child's bleeding. But Jones says the medical examiner may never be able to find the exact cause of death.

Investigators say the 16-year-old Louisburg mother gave birth to the 8.5-pound girl late last month. The girl was placed inside a grocery bag and buried in a shallow grave behind a residence in the Fox Ridge Farms subdivision.

The baby had no signs of physical trauma, Jones said in late June. The case is in the hands of the district attorney, and no arrests have been made. 

Davis says he wants people to know that his baby's mother is a good person, and he has this advice for teenagers: "There are a lot of other options, better than this one."