INDIANOLA, Iowa — A Norwalk woman who pleaded guilty to second-degree murder in the 2023 death of her newborn son will be sentenced Monday.

Megan Staude, 28, is scheduled to be sentenced at 1:30 p.m. at the Warren County Courthouse in Indianola. She was initially charged with first-degree murder but entered a guilty plea to a lesser charge of second-degree murder in July 2024.

The remains of a newborn were discovered in a ditch south of Norwalk on March 9th, 2023. Megan Staude and her father, 67-year-old Rodney Staude, were arrested in the case and charged with first-degree murder.

Court documents filed in the case allege Megan gave birth at the family’s Norwalk home on February 24th, 2023. Megan admitted to investigators that she placed the baby, a boy, in a box and didn’t provide any care for him for two days, despite hearing the child’s cries.

Megan allegedly told police the baby was still alive on February 26th, 2023, when she and her father, Rodney Staude, put the child in a trash bag. Rodney admitted he then discarded the bag in a ditch, according to investigators.

Megan faces up to 50 years in prison on the second-degree murder conviction.

Rodney Staude was ruled incompetent to stand trial in February 2024. The case was stayed while efforts were made to restore his competency. In August, a judge ruled, “by a preponderance of the evidence, that Rodney Staude has been returned to a sufficient level of competency to stand trial.”

His trial is scheduled to begin on October 15th, 2025.