Angela Alexie, the mother who is charged with leaving her 2-day-old son to freeze to death in a friend’s garage before disposing of his body with their recycling, has claimed she was too embarrassed to take the child to authorities because she didn’t know who his father was.
Alexie gave birth to the baby on December 22, 2014 in an Eastpointe, Michigan, garage, allegedly cutting the umbilical cord with her teeth. Wrapping him in a blanket, prosecutors claim that Alexie left the baby in the garage with the windows open, checking on him every two hours while she remained sheltered from the cold inside. Though she attempted to breastfeed, the baby didn’t eat and died on December 25. On that date, Alexie posted “RIP Baby” on Facebook, a statement she now asserts referred to another child.
Angela Alexie in Eastpointe court on murder, child abuse charges; Asst. Prosecutor Bill Cataldo in foreground pic.twitter.com/5UwLK5dQVb
— Chris Hall (@challreporter) February 4, 2015
In court, Alexie claimed that she didn’t have the will to take the child to authorities since she was embarrassed at not knowing the identity of the father. Alexie , 24, has three other children, who are all in foster care, and has since said she concealed the pregnancy from her boyfriend, pretending to miscarry.
Cyndee Johnson, the worker at ReCommunity Recycling who discovered the baby’s body on January 14, also testified in court, describing the child as blue, covered in snow, and curled up as if seeking warmth.
“When I first saw, it scared me. I jumped back. I moved back. I realized this was an actual baby. It just grabbed my heart. I knew something wasn’t right. I said, ‘That’s a real baby. Stop the line! Stop the line!’”
WATCH: Angela Alexie receives charges in court for leaving newborn in recycling bin. http://t.co/uMCFbBcnYx pic.twitter.com/PF26Y0b6Pa
— FOX 2 News | WJBK (@FOX2News) January 28, 2015
Amy Lesniak, who is caring for two of Alexie’s children, attested that she believed Angela was pregnant as she began to miss visits, complaining of illness. When authorities released an appeal to find the deceased baby’s mother, Lesniak contacted them and asserted her belief that the child could be Alexie’s.
Macomb County Assistant Prosecutor Bill Cataldo asserted that Alexie made no attempt to preserve the baby’s life, despite repeated opportunities to do so.
“She did nothing. She let that child freeze to death,” he claimed. “He died when there were a number of ways to save him.”
The community in Macomb has joined together to provide a funeral and burial ceremony for the child after Angela Alexie waived her rights to inter the baby.
[Image: AP via the Daily Mail ]
