Mother who dropped baby from Paris window placed in care

An 18-year-old student from the United States who dropped her newborn baby to its death from a Paris hotel window has been placed in psychiatric care, French prosecutors said Wednesday.

The newborn was "thrown from the second-floor window of a hotel in the 20th arrondissement" in eastern Paris on Monday, a prosecution source said.

The baby was given emergency treatment but did not survive.

Police were alerted after an infant wrapped in a cloth, with its umbilical cord still attached, was discovered in front of the hotel, a police source said.

The mother had given birth in a room at the hotel and then thrown her child out the window, according to the source.

French officials said they had launched a murder investigation. But the woman could be declared unfit to stand trial now that she has been placed in psychiatric care.

Officials said the woman was "part of a group of young adults traveling in Europe." (AFP)