HOBBS, N.M. (KRQE) – The woman who admitted to throwing her baby in a Hobbs dumpster over the weekend will not remain behind bars until trial. Investigators who questioned Alexis Avila took the stand Wednesday afternoon. They described how Avila behaved during those interviews.
Detectives say Avila admitted to giving birth in her bathroom last week. She told investigators she panicked, wrapped the newborn in a towel, put him in a trash bag, and then threw it in a dumpster outside of the Broadmoor Shopping Center.
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Hours later, a group of dumpster divers found the baby while they were rummaging through the trash. They kept the baby warm until police showed up.
Wednesday in court, one of the people who found the baby in a dumpster took the stand. “We heard a little whimpering, and he said, ‘that’s a baby,'” said Michael Green.
Last Friday evening, it was near freezing when officers arrived to help the newborn. “The baby presented to me appeared to be very cold, appeared to be worn down and in my opinion, appeared to be very exhausted,” said Officer Bittick. “The baby was wrapped up in a pink, like a bath towel that was dirty with bloodstains on it. The baby had bloodstains, or blood all over him too.”
Another officer followed the ambulance to a nearby hospital and anxiously watched doctors frantically treat the baby. “They put a little IV in his arm and he didn’t even flinch. They did a poke test to check his blood sugar and he was just laying there, almost, I mean, he almost looked lifeless,” Officer Jennifer Maxwell said.
Luckily, the baby survived. He was airlifted to a children’s hospital in Lubbock, where he is still receiving treatment, even after being put on a feeding tube and getting a blood transfusion. “At no point did she name the baby. She referred to him as ‘it’ the entire time,” said Officer Daniel Perez.
Detective Daniel Perez interviewed Avila after officers used the surveillance video to link her car to her mother’s home. “I was expecting to see someone who was remorseful, you know, truly affected by such an event and I did not,” Perez said.
Detective Perez testified Avila even smirked during their interview. Avila told Perez she found out she was pregnant last Thursday and gave birth at home, the next day. However, Perez believes Avila knew she was pregnant before then and came up with a plan to get rid of the baby.
“That vehicle is in and out of camera angle, I want to say, less than a minute. So, never did she second guess her actions or sit in that vehicle thinking about what she had done. She drove off,” Perez said.
Despite the state’s arguments that Avila deserves to stay locked up until trial, and Judge William Shoobridge describing the crime as repulsive and horrific, he ruled in favor of the defense. He said the state did not prove that incarceration is the only way to protect the public.
Protestors gathered outside a New Mexico courthouse Wednesday afternoon after Judge Shoobridge ruled she would not be held behind bars until trial. He gave Avila a stern message at the end of the hearing saying if she violated any of the conditions of her release, he won’t hesitate to lock her up. Avila will be on house arrest until her trial. She is not allowed to have access to social media and she’ll be required to go to counseling.