While working at a Connecticut sewage plant, a machine operator found a baby fetus split in two pieces at 4 p.m. Saturday.
Police and medical examiners showed up at the Stamford Water Pollution Control Authority after the worker's shift foreman called authorities.
The investigators determined the fetus was about six months along, although they could not be sure of the sex of the baby just yet, reports CBS Local.
The fetus was wrapped in tissue products and was probably flushed within 24 hours before the man found the body.
"Just to flush them down the toilet, put them in the sewage system," English Drakeford tells CBS. "That's barbaric."
If the mother had a miscarriage - which the chief medical examiner believes happened - the mother will not face any charges. However, if it is determined that the fetus had been born alive, she will face criminal charges.
Police are currently looking for the mother to check on her safety.
"Just in case the mother is experiencing vaginal bleeding and she's afraid to go to the doctor because of what happened, we do encourage her to get to the hospital to get checked out," Stamford Police Lt. Diedrich Hohn explains to WFSB.
The sewage plant services Greenwich, Stamford and Darien suggesting that the mother may have flushed the fetus in one of those towns, reports NBC.
