A Wisconsin woman who practiced midwifery without a license for more than a decade has been referred to prosecutors for potential criminal investigation, Brown County District Attorney David Lasee confirmed Tuesday.

Heather Baker, a 49-year old De Pere woman, marketed herself as a “traditional midwife” and traveled across the U.S. and Mexico to assist women with home births – despite being told to stop by Wisconsin’s licensing agency in 2014. 

As first reported by the Journal Sentinel and Green Bay Press-Gazette, the Wisconsin Department of Safety and Professional Services opened an investigation into Baker after 10 complaints were filed against her during a two-month span this summer. 

Several of the complaints suggest Baker’s practices may violate state regulations governing licensed midwives and standards of care accepted nationally by the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists.

Those practices include using drugs to delay or induce labor, discouraging ultrasounds and other prenatal care, and failing to transfer mothers to the hospital in potentially dangerous situations, according to the complaints.  

Baker did not respond to a request for comment.

Department of Safety and Professional Services spokesperson John Beard declined comment other than to say the department’s investigation is ongoing.

The complaints being investigated by the agency span incidents in Florida, Rhode Island and Mexico, including one regarding the death of Jennifer Nosek’s baby during her home birth in Sayulita, Mexico.

Nosek and her husband Rene Lemos, whose son was stillborn in April, are pursuing a case of criminal negligence against Baker in Mexico.

The couple allege in the lawsuit that “Baker’s negligent process as a pseudo-midwife” led several mothers to experience complications in their births due to the use of misoprostol — a drug used to treat postpartum hemorrhaging, and in some cases, to induce labor. 

A group of mothers in Mexico who filed complaints with Wisconsin regulators and helped gather evidence for Nosek’s lawsuit released a statement in response to Baker’s referral for potential criminal investigation.

“Our hope is that the irreparable damage she has caused can be brought to light, accountability can be sought through the justice system and more objective information about her services will become apparent in hope that future families are saved from the traumatic and tragic outcomes others have experienced at her hands,” the statement read.

Alyssa N. Salcedo is a data and investigative journalist pursuing her master’s in journalism at DePaul University. She can be reached at asalced4@depaul.edu. 

Jessica Van Egeren of the Journal Sentinel staff contributed to this article.

MADISON, Wis. (AP) — A 15-year-old student opened fire inside a study hall at a small Christian school in Wisconsin, killing a teacher and teenager and prompting a swarm of police officers responding to a second grader’s 911 call.

The female student wounded six others in Monday’s shooting at Abundant Life Christian School, including two students who were in critical condition, Madison Police Chief Shon Barnes said. A teacher and three students were taken to a hospital with less serious injuries, and two of them were later released.

“Every child, every person in that building is a victim and will be a victim forever. … We need to figure out and try to piece together what exactly happened,” Barnes said.

Police said the shooter, identified as Natalie Rupnow, was found with a self-inflicted gunshot wound when officers arrived and died en route to a hospital. Barnes declined to offer additional details about the shooter, partly out of respect for the family.

Abundant Life is a nondenominational Christian school — prekindergarten through high school — with approximately 420 students in Madison, the state capital.

Barbara Wiers, the school’s director of elementary and school relations, said when they practice safety routines, leaders always announce that it’s a drill. That didn’t happen Monday, just a week before Christmas break.

“When they heard, ‘Lockdown, lockdown,’ they knew it was real,” she said.

Wiers said the school does not have metal detectors but uses other security measures including cameras.

A motive for the shooting was not immediately known, nor was it clear if the victims were targeted, Barnes said.

“I don’t know why, and I feel like if we did know why, we could stop these things from happening,” he told reporters.

Barnes said police were talking with the shooter’s father and other family members, who were cooperating, and searching the shooter’s home.

“He lost someone as well,” Barnes said of the shooter’s father. “And so we’re not going to rush the information. We’ll take our time and make sure we do our due diligence.”

The first 911 call to report an active shooter came in shortly before 11 a.m. First responders who were in training just 3 miles (about 5 kilometers) away dashed to the school for an actual emergency, Barnes said. They arrived three minutes after the initial call.

Investigators believe the shooter used a 9mm pistol, a law enforcement official told The Associated Press. The official spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the ongoing investigation.

Police blocked off roads around the school, and federal agents were at the scene to assist local law enforcement. No shots were fired by police.

Children and families were reunited at a health clinic about a mile (1.6 kilometers) from the school. Parents pressed children against their chests while others squeezed hands and shoulders as they walked side by side.

Abundant Life asked for prayers in a brief Facebook post. Wiers said they’re still deciding whether they will resume classes this week.

Bethany Highman, the mother of a student, rushed to the school and learned over FaceTime that her daughter was OK.

“As soon as it happened, your world stops for a minute. Nothing else matters,” Highman said. “There’s nobody around you. You just bolt for the door and try to do everything you can as a parent to be with your kids.”

In a statement, President Joe Biden cited the tragedy in calling on Congress to pass universal background checks, a national red flag law and certain gun restrictions.

“We can never accept senseless violence that traumatizes children, their families, and tears entire communities apart,” Biden said. He spoke with Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers and Madison Mayor Satya Rhodes-Conway and offered his support.

Evers said it’s “unthinkable” that a child or teacher would go to school and never return home.

The school shooting was the latest among dozens across the U.S. in recent years, including especially deadly ones in Newtown, Connecticut; Parkland, Florida; and Uvalde, Texas.

The shootings have set off fervent debates about gun control and frayed the nerves of parents whose children are growing up accustomed to doing active shooter drills in their classrooms. But school shootings have done little to move the needle on national gun laws.

Firearms were the leading cause of death among children in 2020 and 2021, according to KFF, a nonprofit that researches health care issues.

Rhodes-Conway said the country needs to do more to prevent gun violence.

“I hoped that this day would never come to Madison,” she said.

___

Associated Press writers Alanna Durkin Richer, Ed White, Josh Funk and Hallie Golden and photographer Morry Gash contributed to this report.