Charges still possible for mom of dead baby left by trash

Houston homicide investigators have found and questioned the mother of a newborn infant found dead in a box near an overflowing trash bin at a southeast Houston apartment complex.

The 21-year-old woman is cooperating with police and has not yet been charged with any wrongdoing because the baby's official cause of death has not been determined by the Harris County Institute of Forensic Sciences.

"Basically, we're waiting for an official ruling" on the cause of death, said Houston Police Department homicide division investigator Brant Olive.

Olive said he believes the infant, a Hispanic girl, was a full-term baby.

Child Protective Services confirmed that the mother lives in the apartment complex where the baby was found — at the Windshire Apartment Homes at 4415 S. Shaver Road — on Dec. 28.

CPS took custody of the woman's 3-year-old boy on Monday and placed him with relatives for his own safety while the investigation continues, said spokeswoman Estella Olguin.

The 3-year-old boy was in fine condition, and the mother's apartment also was found to be in good condition, Olguin said. CPS has no history of investigating the woman previously, she said.

The mother did not give police a reason for abandoning her newborn, Olive said.

The baby was found around 10:45 a.m. Dec. 28 when a maintenance man picked up the box containing her body and tried to move it to another trash bin that was not so full, police said.

The maintenance man did not realize a baby's body was in the box and put the container on his golf cart.

When his golf cart turned a corner, the box fell off the vehicle and the baby spilled out on the pavement, police said.

Investigators found bloodstains on a sidewalk near the first trash bin, where the baby had been dumped, but have not yet determined if that blood came from the mother, Olive said.

"There hasn't been any analysis of it yet," he said.

It was not known if the woman is married.

peggy.ohare@chron.com

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