The young mother of a baby found strangled and frozen in eastern Iowa over four years ago will be released from prison soon. A newborn child was found abandoned in a snowy field in the tiny town of Chelsea in February of 2001. Local folks named the child “Baby Chelsea” and held a burial. Nicole Plum of Chelsea later pleaded guilty to child endangerment and was sentenced to up to 10 years in prison. She’s spent over three years behind bars and is now being paroled. Officials say she could be released in a week or two; she will have to check in with a parole officer for the next year. For the past five months Plum has been in a work-release program in Marshalltown. The story of Plum giving birth and then abandoning her baby prompted the Iowa Legislature to pass a law that lets women drop off newborns at a hospital or clinic for safe-keeping if they don’t want to raise the baby. Since the spring of 2003 six mothers have used the law to give up their children.
