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College freshman surrenders in infant son's death
He and high school sweetheart could get death penalty
In this story:
November 21, 1996
Web posted at: 12:30 p.m. EST
WILMINGTON, Delaware (CNN) -- An 18-year-old college freshman surrendered Thursday to face charges of murdering his girlfriend's newborn son.
Brian Peterson Jr., accompanied by his parents and his lawyer, turned himself in to the FBI in Wilmington, Delaware.
As they walked to the building where the FBI office is located, a woman shouted at the family: "How would you feel if somebody dumped your baby into a garbage can?" Peterson's mother, Barbara, cried out and wrapped her arms around her dazed-looking son.
She buried her face in his shoulder, then shouted, "I want to go with him! I want to go with him!" as the young man was led into the building.
Peterson has been in hiding with his mother, preparing himself psychologically for the charges, said lawyer Joseph Hurley.
He said the Gettysburg (Pennsylvania) College student was "dazed and extremely fearful" since learning prosecutors would seek the death penalty.
Death penalty sought
A federal fugitive warrant for Peterson was issued late Tuesday after authorities became frustrated with efforts to negotiate his surrender.
Peterson and Amy Grossberg, also 18, could be sentenced to
death if convicted, said Delaware Attorney General Jane
Brady. 
(293K/13 sec. AIFF or WAV sound)
Grossberg, a student at the University of Delaware, was arrested Monday and was being held without bail. She has pleaded innocent.
The crime
The teens are accused of dumping the newborn boy in a dumpster outside a Newark, Delaware, hotel shortly after his birth last week.
It was in the hotel, located near Grossberg's school, that the baby was delivered, prosecutors say. An autopsy revealed the boy died from a fractured skull.
The suspects
Grossberg and Peterson went to high school together in Bergen County, New Jersey, near New York City. Both lived in affluent neighborhoods -- Grossberg in Franklin Lakes, New Jersey, and Peterson in nearby Wycoff.
Kevin Heffernan, a friend of Peterson's, said the suspect "didn't seem like the type of kid to do something like that."
Grossberg, who was arrested after going to a hospital for
post-natal complications, is "scared to death," said her
attorney, Charles Oberly. (127K/11 sec. AIFF or WAV sound)
The body of the infant boy remains in the Delaware Medical Examiner's office. The death certificate reads: "Baby boy Grossberg."
Officials said that's the only name they ever had for him.
Correspondent Gary Tuchman and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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