Newborn found dead in bottom of convenience store dumpster, AL cops say. Mom arrested

A woman has been charged after police in Alabama said they discovered the body of a newborn baby in a dumpster.

The charges resulted from an investigation that began with a wellness check on a 36-year-old woman on Oct. 16, according to a news release from the Decatur Police Department. Police said they had reason to believe the woman had recently given birth.

Investigators found evidence that she had been pregnant as early as February 2023, but the “her newborn baby was not accounted for,” according to police.

Officials said they also received information that led them to search a dumpster behind a Wally World Mini Mart in Decatur the next day. When they searched it, they found the body of a newborn baby girl in a garbage bag at the bottom of the dumpster, police said.

The Alabama Department of Forensic Science in Huntsville is conducting an autopsy. A spokesperson for the Decatur Police Department told McClatchy News the results of the autopsy have not yet come back to determine the baby’s cause of death.

Investigators do not yet know what condition the child was in when she was placed in the dumpster.

The woman has been charged with abuse of a corpse and theft, and she was booked in Morgan County Jail on Oct. 18, jail records show. She is being held on bond of $201,000.

Attorney information for the woman is not listed in jail records.

Decatur is about 80 miles north of Birmingham.

This story was originally published October 19, 2023 at 3:03 PM with the headline "Newborn found dead in bottom of convenience store dumpster, AL cops say. Mom arrested."