HOLLYWOOD, FL – Authorities have apprehended a woman, believed to be the mother of an infant who was found dead in a garbage bin earlier this year, along with a man accused of assisting in the body’s disposal. The events unfolded near a South Florida apartment complex, according to Hollywood police.
As of Friday evening, both individuals face charges of failing to report a death, and the man is additionally charged with improper disposal of a body.
A full-term baby boy, with the umbilical cord still attached, was discovered on January 7 by an employee from a roofing company. The worker had noticed an offensive smell emanating from a garbage bin, leading him to find the infant inside a reusable shopping bag. He subsequently alerted the authorities, as documented in a police affidavit.
Investigation officers utilized the footage from surveillance cameras to identify the owner of a vehicle that had been spotted near the garbage bin. Subsequent scrutiny of text exchanges between the man and woman, coupled with DNA samples gathered from the shopping bag, guided the authorities to the baby’s mother.
According to the affidavit, an autopsy revealed no signs of trauma or injury on the infant. However, the final verdict about the cause of death is still pending further tests to establish whether the baby was born alive or whether the baby was stillborn.