Antwonetta Jones: Mom Arrested For Using Disturbing Means Of Ditching Her Newborn

Antwonetta Jones (pictured above), 22, is under arrest and could be facing second-degree murder charges in the death of her infant daughter. What makes the case more troubling for law enforcement is the manner in which Jones’ child was found.

Authorities in Slidell, Louisiana, report that the “exact time” and cause of the death remain unclear, but there is enough evidence to show the child wasn’t stillborn, and that she was alive for at least a little while after birth, according to WGNO.

Jones allegedly left her in a trash compactor with the umbilical cord still attached.

Antwonetta Jones was described by Nola as being “an unemployed woman living with her mother.”

The news site reports that Jones hid her pregnancy from her family and friends and that the baby’s own father “was also unaware of the situation until Tuesday (May 5).”

The child weighed more than six pounds and had lungs that were “fully expanded.” One official described her as a “beautiful little girl.”

Jones herself admitted that the baby was living “for several hours,” but at some point had started “choking and quit breathing.”

The account makes it difficult for authorities to determine whether the child was alive at the time she was placed in the trash compactor.

The Slidell police chief said it was “very disturbing to me that this young lady felt as though she had no other options available.”

“We have to do a better job of educating our mothers-to-be that Louisiana is a Safe Haven state,” the chief added.

He also pointed out that the evidence was there for charging her with a second-degree murder, but that the department didn’t see the alleged crime as “a pre-meditated event.”

“She was fully cooperative and showed a lot of remorse for what she had done,” the chief said.

This story is reminiscent of a recent piece the Inquisitr ran on two brothers who were taking out the trash for their mom when they discovered an abandoned child in a plastic trash bag with the umbilical cord wrapped around her neck. Luckily, in that case, the child survived.

The boys’ mom, Jessica Price, tearfully recalled that when her boys brought the baby in from the dumpster, she worked to clear mucus from the child’s mouth to make sure she could breathe.

Price said she was “traumatized” from the discovery, but that she was “so proud” of her kids, and that the baby would always have a home with her if authorities were unable to place it with family.

In the case of Antwonetta Jones, do you think courts should punish her to the fullest extent of the law (if found guilty), or was she just a young woman in over her head? Sound off in the comments section.

[Image via Nola, linked above]