US woman in court over baby killings

A US woman has admitted killing six of her newborn infants apparently over a decade, after police discovered the corpses stored in her garage.

Megan Huntsman, 39, told police she had not killed the seventh infant found in the garage, according to the arrest affidavit quoted by The Salt Lake Tribune.

The seventh infant was stillborn, she told police.

Huntsman appeared in a court in Provo, Utah, about 60 kilometres from Salt Lake City, and was remanded to jail with bail set at $US6m ($A6.4m).

Police over the weekend discovered the remains of seven infants packed in cardboard boxes in the garage in Pleasant Grove, near Provo, in the house where Huntsman lived until 2011.

Police were alerted by her estranged husband, and police then obtained a search warrant and found the other six corpses.

The husband, Darren West, who was previously identified as her ex-husband, was preparing to move back into the house after recently getting out of prison, the Tribune reported. Their three daughters, ages 13 to 20, continued to live in the house after their mother moved out in 2011.

While cleaning out the garage, West reportedly opened a box and found the first infant's body.

He contacted Huntsman, who admitted she had given birth to the stillborn baby in 2006, according to the arrest affidavit. He then called police, who obtained a search warrant and found the six other infant corpses, according to Pleasant Grove police Captain Michael Roberts.

Huntsman told police she had strangled or suffocated the infants immediately after they were born. Each baby was wrapped in a towel or shirt, placed inside a plastic bag and stored in a separate cardboard box in her garage, police investigators said in the affidavit.

The house is owned by West's parents, the Tribune reported.

Neighbours and police were shocked by the discovery.

"I've never seen anything like this in my career," Pleasant Grove detective Dan Beckstrom was quoted as saying.

Neighbours told the Tribune that they had noticed that Huntsman repeatedly gained and lost weight, but they did not suspect she had been pregnant.

Huntsman's next appearance in court was tentatively set for April 21, when charges are expected to be filed.