WILMINGTON, N.C. — A search warrant filed by Wilmington police on Wednesday provides disturbing details related to the mother charged with attempted murder after abandoning her newborn son in a trash bin behind a church.
*GRAPHIC WARNING: Some readers may find details in this story disturbing*
The documents allege the baby was left in a toilet for seven hours before he was sealed in a black trash bag, placed in a trunk and later left in the church garbage can. The warrants suggest the baby boy was in the black bag for about an hour before he was rescued.
The boy’s mother, 21-year-old Maryuri Estefany Calix-Macedo, told police she knew the baby was alive because he was crying, warrants say. She remains in jail under an $800,000 bond.
A woman walking her dog heard the child’s cries and found the baby in a sealed black trash bag. The boy was bloody and had the umbilical cord still wrapped around his neck, but survived.
The police warrants say Macedo admitted she gave birth in the toilet at home in her bathroom. She told police she left the baby in the toilet for seven hours, until 4 p.m. on Thursday, July 16.
After having the baby, she said she left the bathroom and went to feed her one-and-a-half-year-old daughter. Afterward, she went back into the same bathroom, with her son still in the toilet, and took a shower, according to police.
Warrants also said Macedo told officers she knew the baby was still alive because she could hear him crying in the toilet.
The warrants said the baby was eventually placed in a black plastic trash bag that was tied shut and placed in the trunk of her car while she drove to Walmart to buy milk. Walmart video footage confirms Macedo and her daughter were inside the store for about 15 minutes.
After she completed her shopping with the baby in the trunk, Macedo drove to Christ Community Church, placed the sealed bag with the baby inside a blue trash bin and went home, the warrant states.
Temperatures reached 89 degrees that day in Wilmington.
Warrants confirm Macedo told investigators the baby’s father did not know she was pregnant and was at work the evening she left the child in the church trash. The father told police he didn’t know Macedo was pregnant, but was suspicious because she had been putting on weight, which Macedo told him was due to a medication she was on and “drinking a lot of sodas.”
The search warrants also shed light on how police located Macedo.
Officers found the vehicle of interest on a traffic camera and later located it at the Royal Palms Trailer Park. When detectives knocked on Macedo’s door, she allowed police to come inside and speak with her. On July 17, Macedo immediately admitted the newborn baby boy found in the blue trash bin was hers.
North Carolina’s Safe Surrender Law allows a parent to surrender a newborn up to seven days old to a responsible adult without the parent providing his or her name. Safe Surrender is legal and aims to prevent newborns from being hurt or abandoned.
According to the NC DHHS website, people wishing to surrender their newborn must do their best to ensure the baby is healthy, warm and clean. Furthermore, North Carolina’s law mandates a baby must be surrendered to a person, not a location. Best options for a Safe Surrender Contact is a healthcare provider, a law enforcement officer, a social services worker, or an emergency medical worker.
Cox Media Group
/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/cmg/LH3JSJEF3VBLRJLJQESEAG34AM.png)
