An 18-year-old mother in New Mexico is being charged with attempted murder and felony child abuse after being caught on camera throwing her newborn baby in a dumpster.
She was later released on a reported $10,000 bond.
via Complex:
Alexis Avila confessed to putting her baby in the trash and leaving after giving birth, per ABC 7, as a woman leaving a white car is shown on surveillance video tossing a black garbage bag in the dumpster around 2 p.m. Friday. Officials said she found out she was pregnant the day before the birth and claimed she “panicked and did not know what to do or who to call.” Hobbs Police Department Acting Chief August Fons revealed Avila wrapped the baby in a towel before leaving it, per the Independent.
The footage shows a group of people dumpster diving around 7:42 p.m., eventually finding the infant, with police arriving moments later.
“Upon arrival officers rendered aid to the new born child and the baby was transported to a local hospital by Hobbs EMS,” HPD sh
Assisting with the search was local business owner Joe Imbriale, who caught the footage on a nearby camera, which showed the white vehicle the baby was transported in. Imbriale told ABC 7 about the moment he realized what happened.
“What are, what are we looking for here? I turned around, she goes, ‘We’re looking for somebody that dumped a black garbage bag in the dumpster.’ And I said, ‘Please do not tell me it was a baby,’ and she grabbed my shoulder and said, ‘Yes,’” Imbriale said.
As heartbreaking as this story is, it’s even more heartbreaking that this young woman didn’t have the support she needed to make a better decision when it came to her pregnancy.
