A 19-year-old is accused of leaving her newborn baby boy in a hospital trash can, New Mexico officials told news outlets.
Alexee J. Trevizo was arrested on May 10 after police opened an investigation in January into a baby that had died in Artesia, according to a post on Facebook by the police department. On March 28, the medical examiner ruled the baby’s death a homicide.
Trevizo went to the hospital for back pains on January 27 when medical personnel in the emergency room told her she was pregnant, according to KRQE.
The teen locked herself in the hospital’s bathroom, gave birth to the baby, “tied him up in a trash bag, and hid him underneath the trash in the bin,” according to KRQE.
Staff told police they found the bathroom “covered in blood” and thought Trevizo was having pregnancy-related problems so they began to treat her, according to the Carlsbad Current Argus.
Nurses checked the bathroom and didn’t find anything, according to the outlet. It wasn’t until the cleaning crew came that the baby was found in the trash.
By the time the newborn was found, he was dead, according to KRQE.
An autopsy later revealed he was likely born alive, at about 38 weeks, and then suffocated, the Current Argus reported.
Trevizo was charged with murder and tampering with evidence after an investigation, according to police.
Artesia is about 240 miles southeast of Albuquerque.