Joann A Hauser, 75. ABCs 20/20 followed the story of Janet Barnicoat who was abandoned as a newborn in 1981 in Lawndale, California. Close navigation. Ashamed, she never revealed to authorities that Barnicoat was her own child. Hauser claimed she dropped out of college in the 1960s and became immersed in the Los Angeles party scene. There are no volunteers for this cemetery. Hauser is coming up for the first time and confessing she had three children, each of whom she abandoned shortly after birth three times. Knowing that she could not take on the responsibility of caring for another child, Joann decided to do the unthinkable. Photos larger than 8Mb will be reduced. I thank her for her excellent examples for living a good life. Strangely enough, in 1981, Hauser was hailed as a heroine in her local newspaper after telling authorities that she found Barnicoat abandoned in a paper bag in an alley, according to the report. The message was written in a mirror writing style called "Spiegelschrift''. A single parent after a failed marriage, Hauser said she conceived her daughter at a party. //