Mom charged after crying baby found in trash outside North Carolina church
A mother accused of leaving her newborn in a trash can outside a North Carolina church has been arrested, police said.
Maryuri Estefany Calix-Macedo, 21, was taken into custody on a first-degree attempted murder charge by Wilmington police after a woman walking her dog near Christ Community Church discovered the newborn boy Thursday, the News & Observer reports.
Police announced the woman’s arrest on Saturday, days after releasing a statement that a newborn boy was “left for dead” in a trash can in the church’s parking lot until someone heard his cries and called cops.
“I knew he was alive when I found him and I knew that was a good thing,” Cynthia Burton, who discovered the child, told WECT. “But I knew I didn’t have a lot of time.”
Burton found the boy — who “cried out to live,” she said — covered in blood with his umbilical cord still wrapped around his neck, the station reports.
“I know God put me at that place at that time,” Burton said.
The boy, who was taken to a hospital after he was found, was “healthy and doing well,” Wilmington police said Thursday.
Calix-Macedo, who was initially taken to New Hanover Regional Medical Center for an assessment, was later booked into the New Hanover County Detention Facility, where she remained held on $800,000 bond, jail records show.
Photo Credit: Wilmington Police