A Nebraska teenager has been jailed for 90 days for performing an illegal late-term abortion at home before burning and burying the body.
Celeste Burgess, 19, pleaded guilty in May to one count of removing, concealing or abandoning a corpse, as part of a plea deal in Madison County District Court.
On Thursday, court cameras showed him crying as he was handcuffed and led to a cell by an officer in a harrowing eight-second clip.
Her mother Jessica Burgess helped the teenager, then 17, abort the baby about six months into her pregnancy – and the 42-year-old has also pleaded guilty to one count of unlawful abortion, false reporting and tampering with human remains.
Celeste was at least 23 weeks pregnant when she took the abortion pill to deliver a stillborn baby in April of last year, when the legal limit in Nebraska was 20 weeks — which has been reduced to 12 weeks.
Celeste Burgess, 19, cries as she is led to jail Thursday after pleading guilty to one count of removing, concealing or abandoning a corpse as part of a plea deal in Madison County District Court.
Jessica Burgess, 41, the mother of Celeste Burgess, was charged with three felonies and two misdemeanors after helping her daughter have an abortion at home.
Burgess was arraigned in Madison County District Court after serving 90 days in jail
According to News Channel Nebraska, the teenager’s medical records indicated she was 23 weeks pregnant and due on July 3, while prosecutors allege the newborn was terminated at 30 weeks.
During their investigation, officials also discovered Facebook messages between the mother-daughter pair in which they were discussing abortion pills.
Tanner Barnhill, 22, was also charged with helping dispose of the fetus.
Norfolk police launched an investigation in April against the Burgess family who allegedly aborted Celeste and buried the body.
When officers interviewed Celeste, she claimed she had an abortion shortly after midnight on April 22, according to an affidavit obtained by KMTV.
He told his mother what happened, took the fetus and put it in a box in the back of a cargo van, he told police.
Jessica and Celeste went to a property north of Norfolk, allegedly belonging to Barnhill’s parents, and buried the body.
The affidavit does not specify when the burial took place, but notes that Barnhill assisted in the work.
On April 29, Barnhill showed investigators where the fetus was buried and told authorities that Jessica and Celeste tried to burn it before burying it.
When officials recovered the body, it showed signs of ‘thermal injury’.
In April of last year, a court judge sentenced Celeste to three months in prison for the illegal abortion at 23 weeks, when the legal limit in Nebraska was 20 weeks. That was reduced to 12 weeks under a Republican-backed bill passed in May of this year
During their investigation, officials also discovered Facebook messages between the mother-daughter pair in which they were discussing abortion pills.
Celeste Burgess, 17, claims she gave birth to a stillborn baby in the bathroom of her family’s Nebraska home on April 22. Investigators say she took the abortion pill when she was 23 weeks pregnant
During their investigation, officials also discovered Facebook messages between the mother-daughter pair in which they were discussing abortion pills.
The messages – sent on April 20, two days before the alleged stillbirth – revealed that Jessica had given her daughter advice on how to use the drugs.
Celeste revealed she couldn’t wait to get the ‘thing’ off her body, adding ‘I’ll finally be able to wear jeans’.
Jessica confirmed that they would ‘burn the evidence later.’
Both women were charged in June with removing, concealing or abandoning a dead human body — a felony.
They were also charged with misdemeanor counts of concealing another person’s death and making a false report.
A month later, the Madison County Attorney added two more felonies against Jessica: performing or attempting an abortion at more than 20 weeks and performing an abortion as an unlicensed doctor.
Prosecutor Joseph Smith said the charges are the first he has filed in his 32-year career with the county.
“I don’t think I’ve ever had a case like this,” he told The Lincoln Journal Star.
‘Usually, abortions are performed in hospitals, and doctors are involved, and it is not the kind of thing that happened in this case.’
Nebraska’s lowering of the abortion limit from 20 weeks to 12 weeks has sparked fierce protests across the state
Pictured: Hundreds of people descend on the Nebraska Capitol in Lincoln, on May 16, 2023, to protest plans by conservative lawmakers in the Nebraska Legislature to revive an abortion ban that has since been passed into law.
When Burgess pleaded guilty in May, prosecutors dropped two misdemeanor counts.
Nebraska’s abortion limit was lowered from 20 to 12 weeks in May of this year, wrapped in a bill that also limits sex-affirming medical care to people under 19.
Signed by Republican Nebraska Gov. Jim Pillen, the abortion ban is effective immediately, while the ban on sex-affirming care takes effect Oct. 1.
The hybrid measure combines restrictions that Republicans have pursued across the United States
Pillen called the legislation “the most significant victory for Nebraska’s social conservative agenda in a generation” before signing the law as her two older granddaughters stood by her side holding a friend’s five-day-old daughter.
‘This is about protecting our children and saving children. Pure and simple,’ he said.
A bill signed by Republican Nebraska Gov. Jim Pillen lowered the Nebraska abortion limit from 20 to 12 weeks in May of this year (pictured, center).
Opponents have vowed to file lawsuits to try to block the law.
Mindy Rush Chipman, head of the American Civil Liberties Union of Nebraska, said in a statement that ‘every option is on the table to undo these reactionary actions.’
Rush Chipman said, ‘The governor’s decision to sign these sweeping restrictions into law betrays a complete disregard for the freedom, health and well-being of Nebraskans.
‘As we’ve seen in other states, these restrictions will cause significant harm, hitting already vulnerable communities most severely.’
Nebraska has not passed a new abortion ban since 2010, when it became the first state to limit the procedure to about 20 weeks of pregnancy.
The 12-week ban includes exceptions for rape, molestation and saving the life of the mother.
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