A 38-year-old woman in New Mexico has been arrested and is facing a first-degree felony charge after authorities say she killed her newborn shortly after giving birth at a lake recreation area.
Sonia Cristal Jimenez is accused of intentionally abusing a child, resulting in death, according to the Las Cruces Police Department. Investigators allege Jimenez gave birth to a baby girl inside a portable toilet and then dropped the newborn into the waste holding tank, where the child later drowned.
Police say the case came to light late Saturday night. At around 10:30 p.m., a hospital in Las Cruces contacted authorities after Jimenez was brought in by her boyfriend. Hospital staff reportedly believed she had just given birth, but no baby was with her.
Officers then questioned the boyfriend, who told them he and Jimenez had been at Burn Lake earlier that day, roughly 220 miles south of Albuquerque. He reportedly said Jimenez had spent an unusually long time inside the portable toilets at the site, according to the Las Cruces Sun.
Police responded to the area near Burn Lake Road and made a disturbing discovery. Officers located the newborn’s body “in the holding tank of a portable toilet,” according to the department. Firefighters from the Las Cruces Fire Department arrived soon after and recovered what police described as the “lifeless baby” from the toilet tank. The child was pronounced dead at the scene.
Investigators believe Jimenez delivered the baby alive and then deliberately placed her into the tank. Evidence gathered at the scene suggested Jimenez “gave birth to a live baby, cut the umbilical cord and placed the child in the holding tank where she drowned,” police said.
Authorities later confirmed the infant had been alive when she entered the tank. The department cited autopsy findings that supported their conclusion. “An autopsy conducted Monday at the New Mexico Medical Investigator’s Office in Albuquerque revealed that the baby was alive when she was dropped into the portable toilet,” the release states.
“The autopsy showed that she breathed and swallowed the blue chemical liquid commonly used in portable restroom sanitation. The blue chemical was found in the baby’s trachea, lungs and stomach confirming that she breathed and swallowed the liquid while alive.”
Police said Jimenez’s boyfriend has not been publicly identified and is not expected to face charges. Investigators believe he was unaware that Jimenez had given birth at the lake.
An arrest warrant was issued for Jimenez, and she was taken into custody on Wednesday morning. She was booked into the Dona Ana County Detention Center and is being held without bond. Court records did not immediately show when she is expected to make her first appearance before a judge.
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