Wisconsin college student found dead after giving birth

EAU CLAIRE, Wis. (AP) -- She was an honor student, an athlete and a musician who dreamed of being a pharmacist some day.

Only in death did friends of Karen Marie Hubbard learn something else about the 19-year-old freshman at the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire: She was pregnant.

Hubbard's lifeless body was found Tuesday night in a bathroom stall at her all-women's dorm, where she had just given birth to a baby that no one knew she was carrying.

Hubbard's full-term baby girl, found on the floor underneath her on the second floor of Oak Ridge Hall, was alive early Thursday but in critical condition at St. Joseph's Hospital in Marshfield.

"How does this happen? That is the question everybody is asking," said Charles Major, the university's housing director. "We just wish that the girl could've cried out for help at some point in time. Maybe this could've been avoided."

Hubbard's roommate, a very good friend from high school, told authorities Hubbard had complained of flu symptoms and went into the bathroom between 8 and 9 p.m. Tuesday.

"She even asked the roommate to maybe even go get her some Pepto-Bismol," Major said. "The roommate kept going in and out, asking how she was doing, if she needed help, if she needed anything. Karen kept saying, 'No, I am not feeling good. I am OK."'

The roommate, who was not identified, said Hubbard had gained some weight but she didn't know Hubbard was pregnant. Hubbard may not have even known she was about to give birth, her roommate told authorities.

Other students in the dorm who entered the bathroom heard noises and asked Hubbard if she was OK. She told them that she thought she was just sick, according to Major.

A resident assistant found Hubbard's body in the bathroom stall about 11:30 p.m. She wasn't breathing and had no pulse. When rescuers moved her body, they discovered the newborn girl.

Hubbard was pronounced dead at Sacred Heart Hospital. County Medical Examiner John Folstad said it is believed that Hubbard died of complications related to childbirth.

The dorm, home to 355 students, is within walking distance of a hospital.

"That is what is horrible -- there is a hospital right down the road," said Kally Worm, 19, Minnetonka, Minn., a first-floor resident of Oak Ridge Hall. "I don't know how it could happen. I don't get it. Amazing and scary."

Hubbard's mother, Carol Hubbard, declined to comment when reached at her home Wednesday. Relatives and friends gathered at Holy Rosary Catholic Church on Wednesday night.

Many doctors tell stories about teen-agers who did not realize they were pregnant, said Scott Spear, clinical services director with the UW-Madison's university health services.

"The mind is very powerful when it's something you don't want to deal with," he said. "I've seen it in young people, and I've seen it in their parents."

Lisa Boyce, a spokeswoman for Planned Parenthood of Wisconsin, said women faced with an unwanted pregnancy sometimes don't acknowledge it to themselves, as a way to cope with panic or uncertainty.

On the Net: University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire: http://www.uwec.edu