Teen mum allegedly filmed throwing newborn baby in bin
A teenage mum who is accused of throwing her newborn baby into an industrial bin told police she didn’t know she was pregnant until just days before, according to court documents.
Alexis Avila, 18, from the US state of New Mexico, was arrested and charged with attempted murder and child abuse over the weekend, the Hobbs Police department said.
On Friday night, officers said they were called after someone found the baby boy in a dumpster at a shopping centre.
Police administered aid before paramedics took the baby to the hospital. The boy has since been transferred to a hospital in Lubbock, Texas, and is in a stable condition.
Surveillance video taken from stores facing the bins led police to Avila, who admitted to giving birth at another location and then leaving the baby in a dumpster, Hobbs Police spokesman Chad Wright said.
She told officers she didn’t know she was pregnant until she went to a doctor with stomach pains on Thursday, court documents seen by local publication KRQE allege.
The teen gave birth in her bathroom the next day and reportedly told police that she panicked, wrapped the baby in a towel, placed it in a plastic shopping bag and threw the boy in the bin, according to court documents.
Dumpster divers found the baby more than five hours later, initially believing it was a kitten.
The surveillance footage, published by KOB, shows a woman — allegedly Avila — getting out of a white sedan parked next to an industrial bin before quickly tossing a black plastic bag inside and fleeing in the car.
Video also captures the trio of dumpster divers looking at the black bag after pulling it out of the bin.
A woman then rushes toward the bag and rips it open, pulling out a baby.
Joe Imbriale, owner of Rig Outfitters and Home Store, said police called him on Friday night to request his CCTV footage.
"Something wasn't right, I saw the officers' faces, and they did not look right. They really didn't,” he told KOB.
"I said 'what is it we are looking for' and she goes 'we're looking for somebody who dumped a black garbage bag in your dumpster’. I turned around, I said 'please don't tell me it was a baby’,” Mr Imbriale said.
The business owner said he was stunned at what he saw on the video as he reviewed it with police.
"I can't sleep at night just knowing that this baby was just tossed in a dumpster like that. I'm sorry but who does that? That is evil. I don't have words for it."
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