What to Know
- The teenager went to the emergency room for back pain, and lab tests showed she was pregnant and in labor, police said.
- She then went to the bathroom, where she gave birth and then placed the newborn in a bag and hid it under trash in a trashcan, according to investigators.
- The woman's lawyer says the case is "very unusual" and claims the care she received at the hospital played a role in what happened.
A New Mexico woman has been charged with first-degree murder in the January death of her newborn son, whose body authorities said she placed in a trash can.
Alexee Trevizo, 19, also was charged this week with tampering with evidence, according to a criminal complaint filed in Eddy County in southeastern New Mexico.
Trevizo went to the emergency room for back pain, and lab tests showed she was pregnant and in labor, according to Artesia police. Trevizo then locked herself in a bathroom, where she gave birth to a boy Jan. 27, then placed the baby in a bag that she concealed under trash, investigators said.
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By the time the baby was found, the baby had died and Trevizo had left the hospital, investigators said. An autopsy listed the cause of death as a homicide.
Gary C. Mitchell, an attorney for Trevizo, said Thursday that said his client has no criminal record and should not be facing a murder charge.
He said there are “major discrepancies about what happened” in the hospital and “this isn't a classic child abuse case.”
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Mitchell said the hospital staff gave Trevizo very powerful drugs, not realizing she was pregnant, and exhibited a “lack of care,” according to the Albuquerque Journal
“The fact of the matter is she was at the hospital trying to get help… This is a very, very unusual case," Mitchell said, according to the paper.
A court hearing is scheduled Friday to review conditions of release.
It's the second high-profile case involving a mother and a newborn baby in New Mexico lately.
Jurors convicted Alexis Avila, 19, of throwing her newborn into an outdoor trash receptacle in January 2020 in Hobbs, New Mexico. The child survived. Avila was sentenced May 1 to 16 years in prison.
