Facebook chat logs used to prosecute Nebraska teenager for illegal late term abortion

Facebook messages provided by Meta helped authorities in Norfolk, Nebraska, prosecute a mother and daughter accused of illegally aborting, burning and burying her (estimated) 24-week-old fetus.

Nebraska state law prohibits abortions after 20 weeks of pregnancy.

VICE News’ tech site Motherboard obtained a copy of search warrants and court records in the case, which includes chat logs showing how the then-17-year-old girl was excited that she “will finally be able to wear jeans.”

Detective Ben McBride of the Norfolk, Nebraska Police Division began investigating Celeste Burgess and her mother, 41-year-old Jessica Burgess, after receiving a tip the teenager had miscarried and that the pair had buried the body, reported the Lincoln Journal-Star.

When questioned, they said Celeste had unexpectedly given birth to her stillborn baby in the shower and led McBride to the burial site on the property of an acquaintance’s parents.

The acquaintance, 22-year-old Tanner Barnhill, said the pair had tried to burn the body before it was buried, which was confirmed by authorities who exhumed the fetus.

In early June, Celeste and Jessica Burgess were charged with removing, concealing or abandoning a dead human body, a felony, and a pair of misdemeanors: concealing the death of another person; and false reporting, according to the Journal-Star. Barnhill pled no contest to a misdemeanor and will be sentenced next month.

Over the course of that investigation, McBride determined through Celeste’s medical records that she had been at least 23 weeks pregnant when she claims to have miscarried and suspected the fetus may not have been stillborn because it being placed in a bag, raising “the possibility of asphyxia due to suffocation,” according to the affidavit.

Nebraska bans abortion past 20 weeks, having failed to pass a 12-week ban on Aug. 8 or implement its “trigger law” in April.

McBride applied for and was granted a search warrant for the Burgess’s Facebook information on June 14, and Meta complied. Private messages appear to show the pair discussing the receipt of “some pills” two days before the alleged stillbirth and the dosage.

“C.Burgess talks about how she can’t wait to get the “thing” out of her body and reaffirms with J.Burgess that they will burn the evidence afterward,” he said in the affidavit for a second search warrant just a two days after the first.

The affidavit also said a friend of Celeste’s had contacted the office, claiming she was present when the pregnant girl took the first of two pills meant to cause a miscarriage.

The second search warrant allowed authorities to raid the Burgess home and seize 13 laptops and smartphones, from which 24 gigabytes of data were extracted for the case, reports Motherboard.

Madison County Attorney Joseph Smith has since charged Jessica Burgess with two more felonies –performing or attempting an abortion on a pregnancy at more than 20 weeks and performing an abortion as a non-licensed doctor.

“I don’t think I’ve ever had a case like this,” Smith told the Journal-Star on Friday, noting it was the first time he had filed those charges in his 32 years as the country’s prosecutor.

“Usually, abortions are performed in hospitals, and doctors are involved, and it’s not the type of stuff that occurred in this case.”

According the court documents, the mother allegedly obtained and gave her daughter Pregnot, AKA the “abortion pill.” But Celeste was 23-weeks pregnant at the time, while Pregnot is only recommended within the first 10 weeks.

Both Jessica and Celeste Burgess – who is being tried as an adult – have pleaded not guilty to all charges.

Abortion advocates have been concerned that social media platforms would provide law enforcement with data that relates to abortion cases.

A Meta spokesperson told Motherboard that neither of the two warrants mentioned abortion.

“The warrants concerned charges related to a criminal investigation and court documents indicate that police at the time were investigating the case of a stillborn baby who was burned and buried, not a decision to have an abortion,” the spokesperson said.