INDIANOLA, Iowa -- A Norwalk woman who pleaded guilty to second-degree murder in the 2023 death of her newborn son will be sentenced Monday.

Megan Staude, 28, is scheduled to be sentenced at 1:30 p.m. at the Warren County Courthouse in Indianola. She was initially charged with first-degree murder but entered a guilty plea to a lesser charge of second-degree murder in July 2024.

The remains of a newborn were discovered in a ditch south of Norwalk on March 9th, 2023. Megan Staude and her father, 67-year-old Rodney Staude, were arrested in the case and charged with first-degree murder.

Court documents filed in the case allege Megan gave birth at the family's Norwalk home on February 24th, 2023. Megan admitted to investigators that she placed the baby, a boy, in a box and didn't provide any

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