New Mexico woman charged after allegedly drowning newborn in portable toilet

A New Mexico woman is facing charges after she allegedly gave birth in a portable toilet and then killed the newborn by drowning them in the holding tank.

Sonia Cristal Jimenez, 38, arrived at Memorial Medical Center in Las Cruces at around 10:30 p.m. on Feb. 7, when staff said she appeared as if she had just given birth, but she had no baby with her, Las Cruces Police said in a press release.

Hospital staff then notified police about the unusual encounter.

Jimenez’s boyfriend said they had been at Burn Lake, which is located about six miles away, and that his girlfriend had used a portable toilet.

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Officers rushed to the deserted area and discovered the infant girl dead in the portable toilet’s holding tank.

Investigators suspect that Jimenez gave birth, cut the umbilical cord and left the child in the holding tank, where she drowned.

An autopsy showed the baby inhaled and swallowed the sanitation liquid used in the portable toilet, according to investigators. The blue chemical was found in the baby’s trachea, lungs and stomach, which investigators said confirms that she breathed and swallowed the liquid while she was still alive.

Jimenez was arrested on Wednesday and charged with intentional child abuse resulting in death, a first-degree felony. She was booked into the Doña Ana County Detention Center and is being held without bond.

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Police said they do not expect to charge her boyfriend, as they do not believe he was aware she had given birth.

“This is one of the most heartbreaking and disturbing cases I have encountered in my career,” Las Cruces police Chief Jeremy Story told the Santa Fe New Mexican.