BOSTON (AP) A child custody hearing has been continued until next week after a couple that belongs to an Attleboro religious sect refused Tuesday to answer a judge's questions.
An Attleboro Juvenile Court judge granted the state Department of Social Services custody of a child the agency thinks was born to Rebecca and David Corneau recently. The trouble is, the baby has not been located.
''My clients declined to answer questions based on their freedom of religion, their right to privacy, and their rights under the Fifth Amendment,'' attorney J.W. Carney said after the closed hearing.
The judge on Tuesday gave the state custody until next Tuesday and ordered it to continue its search for the child.
Authorities are concerned about children born to the Corneaus because family members secretly buried Rebecca Corneau's stillborn son in Maine in 1999. Their four other children have been placed with relatives who are not sect members.
Their stillborn son, Jeremiah, was secretly buried in 1999 in Maine with his infant cousin, Samuel Robidoux. Prosecutors allege that Samuel starved to death after his aunt said she had a vision from God instructing his parents to feed the baby nothing but almond milk.
Samuel's parents, sect leader Jacques Robidoux and his wife, Karen, face murder charges in a trial expected to start in March. The Corneaus have not been charged. The sect, known as ''Body of Christ,'' takes a literal approach to the Bible and does not believe in modern medicine.
''There is no evidence that David and Rebecca Corneau have ever abused any of their children,'' Carney said. ''It borders on a witch hunt to be bringing them back into court for a proceeding like this.''
In the hearing, state child protection officials presented several witnesses in an attempt to prove Rebecca Corneau, 33, gave birth recently.
''We have enough information to believe that Rebecca Corneau was pregnant and went into labor very recently,'' agency spokeswoman Carol Yelverton said.
Rebecca Corneau had recently appeared pregnant, but at a court hearing last week she did not appear to be pregnant, leading officials to believe she had given birth.
Authorities last Friday searched the Corneaus home and a Rehoboth farm but did not find a baby or evidence of one.
Corneau was confined for six weeks when she was pregnant in 2000 because of concerns about the health of another child. She gave birth to a healthy baby girl in October 2000 who was immediately placed in foster care.