EUNICE, La. (KLFY)– A Eunice woman was arrested in connection with a counterfeit death certificate for a stillborn child, according to the St. Landry Parish Sheriff’s Office.
Kayley Lynn Vige was charged with false preparation of death and spontaneous fetal death certificate (stillborn).
Authorities responded to a local medical facility Tuesday where staff members informed them that Vige had forged a fake death certificate for a baby that she allegedly delivered on Nov. 3 and the physician’s signature on the certificate was forged.
Authorities said Vige had one appointment in June at the facility where the physician also worked, but she did not return to the facility since then. After the medical facility got a copy of the death certificate, they discovered the doctor listed had didn’t have Vige as a patient.
The facility also reached out to the hospital that was on the certificate. After the hospital’s legal team reviewed the document and the feedback from staff members, the facility was told to contact law officials due to the death certificate being fake.
Authorities spoke with Vige’s family and they thought she was pregnant but had gotten minimal information on the actual pregnancy other than some ultra sound photos. They also thought Vige had a miscarraige, but they did mention her prior record of lying for attention and some mental-health related matters.
Authorities said Vige’s boyfriend, the apparent father of the stillborn child, told them she had asked him to pick her up from the hospital where the unborn child had died. The death certificate, which Vige showed her boyfriend, had the date of the miscarriage, but was missing a time stamp.
Vige’s boyfriend couldn’t get any medical records since she left the hospital before she was cleared for discharge by a doctor. Vige told her boyfriend the reason she left was because she couldn’t do the blood work.
Authorities said Vige denied creating the document and showing it it to any medical facility or doctor. She did admit to reaching out to the hospital to get a copy of her medical records, but further denied ever noticing a death certificate. Vige did confess to making fake ultrasound photos and dating them September 13.
After finding out death certificate templates were available online and searching “Images”, authorities found the same death certificate that was given, just without any person information filled out. Authorities learned that anyone can type in information on the online certificate.
Police said Vige has yet to admit if the the pregnancy even existed. They are still investigating why Vige would even want to or feel the need to stage a fake pregnancy.
