When it came time for the new parents to take their newborn home from the hospital, Dr. Lucas Jones was stuck in surgery. That forced Brad Cooper to undergo the task alone. Shortly after bringing baby Wiley home, Brad went to make him a bottle. When he returned to the crib, he discovered the baby had died. It was later revealed to be from Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS). Distraught, Brad immediately loaded Wiley back into his car and took off for the hospital, though he ended up pulling over when he was overcome with emotion. While on the side of the road, Nelle Benson (Chloe Lanier) emerged from the woods carrying a baby of her own.

Nelle was a notoriously sinister woman with a history of terrorizing the citizens of Port Charles. She had been heavily pregnant with Michael Corithos' (Chad Duell) son. When Brad came upon her, she was trying to flee town to keep her baby away from his father and ended up in a car accident, which prompted her to go into labor and give birth in the woods. Seeing a solution to both of their problems, Nelle convinced Brad to switch babies with her — he could take the healthy newborn home to raise as Wiley, and she would take the deceased baby to the hospital and tell Michael that their son was stillborn. Regrettably, Brad decided to go along with the twisted plan.