A Burger King customer suspected a woman was sick in the bathroom, and reported it to the restaurant’s manager. 
 
 But the reality was much, much worse, according to police in Chillicothe, Ohio. 
 
 A Burger King manager checked on the woman around 2:30 p.m. Friday after she’d been holed up in a handicap stall for an “extended period.” She found the woman locked in the stall speaking incoherently, and assumed she was “on something,” a police report said. 
 
 Paramedics soon arrived at the scene and found 26-year-old Elizabeth Sanders, of Waverly, Ohio, sitting on the toilet. Blood was all over the stall, and a substance that appeared to be heroin was on the floor beside her, police said. Sanders told them she’d had a miscarriage. 
 
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 She hadn’t: When authorities looked between Sanders’ legs and into the toilet bowl, they saw a living newborn child resting face up in the water, the police report said. 
 
 Paramedics told Sanders to stand — and when she got up, the floating newborn rolled over so its face was down in the toilet water, according to police. A medic quickly scooped up the child and noted that it was breathing. Sanders and her newborn were transported separately to the hospital, according to police. 
 
 The baby was in fair condition, and was eventually moved to the hospital’s nursery. Emergency room officials had to give Sanders Narcan, a drug to reverse overdoses, police said. 
 
 Meanwhile, Sanders’ boyfriend, 26-year-old Zachary Frey, was in the Burger King parking lot passed out on drugs, according to police. 
 
 Frey drooled, slurred his words and began nodding off as police spoke to him. An officer searched his shorts and found heroin, and then Frey failed a field sobriety test, police said. 
 
 SHARE COPY LINK More than half a million people died between 2000 and 2015 from opioid use. In 2017 the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services declared the national opioid crisis a public health emergency. We examine what happens to the human body on opioids. 
 
 Frey was arrested on suspicion of possessing drugs and drug paraphernalia. He has also been charged with operating a vehicle while impaired, WTTE reports. 
 
 When officers interviewed Frey at jail, he told them his girlfriend had been eight months pregnant. Frey told officers that Sanders had used heroin “back in the day,” but “had not used in over a week,” according to the police report. 
 
 That’s when authorities informed Frey that his girlfriend had just gone into labor at the Burger King, police said. He was surprised it hadn’t been a miscarriage and became “emotional,” according to the police report. 
 
 Earlier on Friday, Sanders’ mother had called police to report that her daughter was “9 months pregnant and addicted to heroin,” according to the police report. The mother said her daughter “was 3.5 centimeters dilated and already lost her mucus plug.” 
 
 Officers had begun searching for Sanders when she turned up at the Burger King, police said. 
 
 Sanders was arrested on an unrelated theft warrant after she was released from the hospital. Interviewed in jail, Sanders told officers the baby was due Aug. 5 — two days after she gave birth. Sanders also said Frey was the father, according to the police report. 
 
 Asked what happened on Friday before she went into labor, Sanders said “she thought she had to pee and then it happened and she does not remember anything else after that,” according to the police report. 
 
 Sanders admitted “she snorts heroin,” according to the police report. But she said she thought she was “doing valium that day. She said she did not think she had heroin.” Sanders told officers that the last time she had done heroin was a few days before going into labor, according to police. 
 
 When detectives inquired about her child, Sanders said “he was showing some signs of withdrawals but was doing well,” the police report said. She told authorities she would go into rehab after she was released in hopes of getting custody of her child. 
 
 SHARE COPY LINK Horry County has the highest rate in South Carolina of babies born addicted to drugs, a condition known as neonatal abstinence syndrome. As the opioid crisis continues, more babies are born with this condition. 
 
 Sanders said “she is worried about her mother because of all the stress. She said her mom has had two heart attacks and she does not need that on her conscious,” the police report said. 
 
 Sanders pleaded not guilty to the theft charge in court on Monday and was released from custody, the Chillicothe Gazette reports. 
 
 Police said the baby was still in the hospital as of Tuesday, according to the newspaper. ||||| . (Photo: Stock photo) 
 
 CHILLICOTHE — A baby boy born in a toilet at the Western Avenue Burger King on Friday is expected to be OK, according to Chillicothe police. 
 
 The birth of the boy was discovered as officers responded to the restaurant due to a report of a man passed out in a vehicle and the woman with him having gone into the bathroom at about 2:30 p.m. Friday. 
 
 Upon arrival, police reported finding Zachary T. Frey, 26, of Chillicothe, passed out behind the wheel of a purple Saturn Ion which was still running. Officers were able to rouse Frey, who was described in the police report as drooling, having slurred speech, pinpoint pupils, and kept "nodding off." 
 
 Meanwhile, another officer and a medic went into the bathroom, where they found Elizabeth D. Sanders, 26, of Waverly, sitting on a toilet, a suspected ball of heroin allegedly on the floor beside her. According to the report, Sanders told the officer and medic she believed she had miscarried. 
 
 When the medic looked into the toilet, he saw a newborn infant lying face up and told Sanders to stand, which caused the baby to roll over face down into the water. The baby was quickly retrieved and found to still be breathing. 
 
 On Tuesday morning, Chillicothe Police Capt. Larry Bamfield said the baby was still being treated at Adena Medical Center and was expected to be OK. He was unsure of children services' plans for when the boy is released. 
 
 After Sanders was released from Adena, she was arrested on a warrant related to an alleged theft of money from her bar-tending job in March. She pleaded not guilty on Monday and was released on her own recognizance. 
 
 Frey, who police said refused medical treatment Friday, was charged with operating a vehicle while impaired and possession of drug paraphernalia. Additional charges could be filed pending lab results of suspected heroin allegedly found in a baggie in Frey's shorts pocket. 
 
 According to online court records, Frey had appeared in Chillicothe Municipal Court for an arraignment Friday morning on misdemeanor theft and criminal trespass charges and was released on his own recognizance after pleading not guilty. Frey has a 2017 OVI conviction and graduated from the Ross County Common Pleas Drug Court in October of 2016. 
 
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 CHILLICOTHE - Chillicothe police have assisted in getting the mother who gave birth in Burger King on Friday into drug treatment. 
 
 Police issued a brief news release on Thursday that community outreach officer Bud Lytle had gotten Elizabeth D. Sanders, 26, into treatment. Lytle has worked for about 18 months as a liaison with those looking for drug treatment, especially those who have come into contact with law enforcement. 
 
 More: Halting death: Police, sheriff become liaisons to treatment 
 
 More: Chillicothe baby born in toilet at Burger King 
 
 Sanders was arrested on a theft warrant after her release from the hospital. When police and medics found her in a Burger King stall, a ball of heroin allegedly was found on the floor beside her. The baby, found to have been born into the toilet bowl, is expected to be OK. Citing confidentiality, a children services representative said she could not provide any details on investigations. 
 
 Police initially responded due to a suspected overdose of a man with Sanders behind the wheel of a vehicle. Zachary T. Frey, 26, was charged with OVI. 
 
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– A 26-year-old Ohio woman is heading to drug rehab in the hope of securing custody of her week-old son, born in the toilet of a Burger King bathroom stall. Authorities responding to a report of a man passed out behind the wheel of a running car say they found Zachary Frey, 26, "nodding off" in the parking lot of a Chillicothe Burger King with a bag of what they believed to be heroin in his pocket, reports the Chillicothe Gazette. His girlfriend was of greater concern. Found in a bathroom stall with a ball of suspected heroin beside her, Elizabeth Sanders said she believed she'd had a miscarriage. However, the infant in the toilet was found to be breathing after a movement briefly caused the boy's face to be submerged in water, according to police. Sanders, who admitted to using heroin a few days before going into labor, said she "thought she had to pee and then it happened and she does not remember anything else after that," the police report reads, per McClatchy. Given Narcan at a hospital, Sanders was later arrested on a charge of stealing money from a bartending job, while Frey was charged with drug possession and operating a vehicle while impaired. Released Monday after pleading not guilty, Sanders said she would go to rehab in the hope of getting custody of her son and has since secured a spot with help from officers, reports the Gazette. As of Tuesday, her son remained in the hospital; According to police, Sanders said he was showing signs of withdrawal but "doing well."