Newborn Found Dead In Arizona Dumpster


The body of a newborn baby has been discovered in a dumpster outside Phoenix, Arizona. WBAL News reports that the grim discovery was made by a homeless couple, who reported it to authorities. Now the search for the deceased baby’s birth mother is underway as Glendale Police officers look to identify the infant.

Authorities do not believe that the baby was born in a hospital, which can be indicative of a number of explanations. If the child was the product of a home birth, the mother must be located so that she can receive medical attention. Meanwhile, medical examiners are trying to determine if the child was premature and stillborn, or if the newborn was left to die after birth.

Sadly, this type of situation isn’t uncommon. In fact, one of the most notorious cases involves Melissa Drexler, who became known as “The Prom Mom” in the mainstream media. In the 1990s, the young woman famously gave birth to a baby in her school bathroom during prom. She put the baby in the trash before going back to the dance, where she ate a salad and danced with her boyfriend. The newborn did not survive. At around the same time as Drexler’s case, the FBI reported that nearly five infants were killed weekly by parents. This was in 1997.

Last year, a newborn baby was discovered in a dumpster in Texas. The child was found with a student’s discarded homework and some food scraps. The baby boy was fortunate to survive, and the reckless teenager was quickly identified and given medical attention. Earlier this year Inquisitr reported that an 11-month-old toddler had been found in a Nebraska dumpster. In a horrific turn of events, the tot’s oldest brother put him in the dumpster after murdering his other five-year-old brother.

The state of Arizona is what is known as a safe haven state, which means that mothers can leave their unwanted children at any hospital, police station, or other designated area without fear of being prosecuted. In Arizona, new mothers have a total of three days to relinquish their newborns, but in other states the number of days is far higher.

For example, in the state of Texas, mothers have up to 60 days to relinquish their unwanted infants without fear of prosecution — given that the child does not show signs of abuse, as with any safe haven state. Parents who abandon their children unlawfully in safe haven states put the babies at risk of death, which is precisely what happened in the case of this latest newborn death.

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