A Timeline Of Events

OCEAN CITY – The following is a look at the sequence of events in the pending murder case against Ocean City resident and business owner Christy Freeman as they unfolded over the last week.

– Around 1 a.m. last Thursday, Ocean City EMTs and police responded to a 911 call from Freeman’s Sunset Drive residence where she was treated for abdominal pain, vomiting and severe bleeding from her vaginal area.

– Freeman was transported to Atlantic General Hospital where doctors determined she was pregnant through testing, but she continued to deny every being pregnant.

– Freeman was then transported to PRMC in Salisbury where physicians discovered a placenta and a severed umbilical cord, but there was not a fetus in the womb. Freeman continued to deny ever being pregnant, but relented upon questioning by an OCPD detective and told police she had given birth to a stillborn, malformed fetus at her home and had flushed it down the toilet.

– Armed with a search and seizure warrant for the residence, OCPD detectives discovered the body of a male fetus wrapped in a towel in a cabinet under the bathroom vanity. Upon further investigation, OCPD detectives discovered the remains of two more fetuses wrapped in plastic bags and stored in a trunk in Freeman’s bedroom.

– On Friday afternoon, detectives obtained a search and seizure warrant for a recreational vehicle parked in the driveway of the residence, and investigators discovered the remains of another fetus wrapped in a plastic bag, bringing the total to four dead fetuses discovered in and around the property.

– Based on the information provided to them by Freeman herself and the fact cadaver dogs indicated there could be more remains in and around the property, OCPD detectives solicited the help of FBI forensic investigators to help with the excavation of a vacant lot adjacent to the property.

– On Monday morning, the FBI forensic investigators working with the OCPD detectives began the tedious process of clearing the vacant lot in preparation of the search for more remains.

– On Monday afternoon, Freeman appeared in District Court in Ocean City for a bond review dressed in a blue prison jumpsuit with handcuffs and leg irons. Despite Freeman’s pleadings to let her out on bond so she could begin clearing her name, Judge Daniel Mumford ordered her held without bond.

– Later on Monday afternoon, a press conference was held at the crime scene during which is was revealed the state medical examiner had determined the first fetus was stillborn and was about 26 weeks old, which made it eligible for murder prosecution under Maryland’s viable fetus statute.

– On Tuesday, the complicated excavation of the vacant lot continued while more information on the case continued to trickle out. By Wednesday morning, no evidence was discovered at the vacant lot and the FBI pulled up stakes and turned the investigation back over to the OCPD.

– By Wednesday afternoon, the physical investigation in and around the residence was completed and the crime scene was released, meaning Freeman’s longtime boyfriend Ray Godman and their four children were free to move back into their home if they desired.

– On Thursday afternoon, State’s Attorney Joel Todd dismisses the charges against Freeman on the most recent fetus and charges her with first-degree murder of a baby born to her 2003.