TRIALS SET FOR GRANDMA, WARDELL COUPLE IN BABY-SELLING CASE

BLOOMFIELD -- Trial dates have been set for a couple accused of buying a baby and the grandmother charged with trying to sell the infant.

Cathy Adams, 39, of Qulin, grandmother to the baby, pleaded not guilty late Wednesday afternoon to a charge of trafficking in children. Her trial is set for Feb. 7. Adams, on probation at the time of the incident, has been in jail since her arrest.

Earlier Wednesday, Guy and Teresa Burnham of Wardell pleaded not guilty to charges of trafficking in children and the illegal transfer of custody of a child. Trial is set for Jan 21.

The pleas were heard by 35th Circuit Presiding Judge Stephen Sharp.

Also charged in the alleged sale of the baby is his great-grandmother, Mary Rackers of St. Louis County. Shortly after surrendering to the Stoddard County Sheriff's Department, Rackers was released on bond.

Adams was serving probation in connection with a fatal hit-and-run incident in Butler County. She was supposed to be serving that probation in Franklin County.

State probation and parole officials in Franklin County, contacted after Adams' arrest on the child-trafficking charge, said they were unaware she had moved back into Butler County.

Also taken into custody were "Baby Michael's" 16-year-old mother and two 16-year-old boys, all charged with the transport of the infant to Dexter.