Teen mom who tossed baby in dumpster told baby’s father she’d miscarried

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Friends of the teenage mom who tossed her newborn in a dumpster in Hobbs, New Mexico over the weekend then told cops she didn’t realize she was pregnant until the day before she gave birth, have claimed that the 18-year-old told them she was expecting four months ago.

Alexis Avila, 18, of New Mexico, who was caught on video throwing the baby boy into a dumpster, was arrested and charged with attempted murder and child abuse. She was released within two hours of the arrest after posting $10,000 unsecured bail.

Avila told police she did not know she was pregnant until she went to a doctor for stomach pain last Thursday, a day before giving birth in the bathroom at her home. 

But one of Avila’s school friends at Hobbs High School, who declined to be named but has known her since freshman year, told DailyMail.com that the new mom first mentioned she was pregnant last fall. 

‘I heard her talk about being pregnant around late September, early October,’ she said. ‘She never expressed that it was a bad thing that she was pregnant.’

Avila reportedly dropped out of high school on December 17. Hobbs High School refused to comment on her case.

The baby’s 16-year-old father, who is not being named by DailyMail.com because he is a minor, has also claimed that Avila not only knew she was pregnant but had told him she suffered a miscarriage.

The teen, who attended Hobbs High School with Avila, has called his son Saul and is reportedly asking for custody of his son. The baby is currently with the New Mexico Children, Youth & Families Department. The department has not responded to DailyMail.com’s requests for comment. 

The couple had been dating for a year and a half before they split up last August, Avila claims. 

The age of consent in New Mexico is 17, meaning the baby’s father was underage when they had sex. Avila may not face statutory rape charges however, as she is less than four years older than her ex. 

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This week, panicked 911 calls emerged detailing the horrifying moment a newborn baby was found in a dumpster in New Mexico after Avila tossed him in the trash six hours earlier in 30-degree weather.

‘We just found a baby in the god***n trash,’ the caller is heard saying. ‘He’s freezing cold and still has his umbilical cord attached.’  

It was around 8 p.m. that evening when a trio of dumpster divers, named by police as Michael Green, Hector Jesso and April Meadow, rescued the infant after hearing his cries.  

At first, they thought it was a cat as they pulled a trash bag from the dumpster.    

Surveillance video captured the scene as they opened the bag to find a shivering, whimpering newborn baby inside.

Incredibly, the baby was still alive, with the umbilical cord still attached. Police are then seen arriving at the scene.   

‘He’s whimpering, he was not crying actually,’ the caller told 911. ‘I was looking for some stuff in the dumpster and we heard… We heard something I didn’t know it was a baby. Thought it was a cat.’

Another dumpster diver joined the conversation with the 911 operator explaining that the baby still had his umbilical cord attached and that he was very weak. 

‘He’s freezing cold and he’s very, very, very weak,’ she said. 

The woman is heard saying that she had wrapped the baby inside her coat to keep him warm while trying to comfort him as he’s heard whimpering on the 911 call.  

Joe Imbriale, who owns Rig Outfitters and Homestore, said his surveillance cameras are pointed toward the dumpsters where the baby was found.  

‘Something wasn’t right, I saw the officers’ faces, and they did not look right,’ he told DailyMail. ‘I said ‘What is it we are looking for?’ and she goes ‘We’re looking for somebody who dumped a black garbage bag in your dumpster.’ I turned around, I said ‘please don’t tell me it was a baby’.’

When police reviewed the video, they found the baby had been dumped nearly six hours earlier. 

‘What was even harder, that nobody has seen, is five hours of video of people dumping trash on this baby,’ Imbriale said. ‘That poor baby spent more time in that dumpster than she spent in jail.’ 

He added that the whole situation is ‘heartbreaking.

Police say it was the video that led them to the child’s mother. 

Avila claims she did not know she was pregnant until the day before she delivered her baby in a bathroom.  

But Imbriale told DailyMail.com that several girls he employs at his business told him they knew she was pregnant at the end of last year and that she would punch herself in the stomach, telling the girls, ‘I wish this baby would die.’ 

August Fons, the acting chief of Hobbs police department, said he had never before come across a case like this.

‘If you are struggling with a new infant, the best response is to find somebody who can help you with that,’ he said. ‘Contact us, and let us help you through the situation.’ 

Surveillance video showed a woman arriving in a white Volkswagen Jetta before opening the back door and tossing a black trash bag into a dumpster in Hobbs, New Mexico, at around 2 p.m. on January 7.

Six hours later, footage showed three people looking through the dumpster before one of them found the infant inside. 

 Chief Fons thanked the trio for saving the baby’s life. He said the trio’s quick action was ‘absolutely pivotal’ in saving the baby boy’s life.  

Fons also acknowledged the officers who responded to the scene.

‘These types of calls often stay with officers long after they’re resolved, often for many, many years,’ Fons added.  

A GoFundMe account has been created for Michael Green, one of the three people who rescued the baby. 

‘We want to raise enough money to help get him off the streets and in a RV camper or something,’ the account reads. ‘Anything will help!’     

According to a criminal complaint obtained by KRQE on Monday, Avila confessed to throwing away her child. The 18-year-old mother told police she did not know she was pregnant until she went to a doctor for a stomach pain on Thursday.

The following day, she delivered her son in a bathroom at her parents’ home. After giving birth, Avila said she ‘panicked.’ 

She wrapped her son in a towel, placed him in a white plastic bag containing some trash, and a larger black trash bag, and drove around, before throwing the child in the dumpster at the Broadmoor Shopping Center at around 2 p.m.

New Mexico has a Safe Haven law, which allows a person to leave an infant not more than 90 days old with the staff of a hospital without fear of criminal prosecution. 

After the baby was found, he was taken to a hospital in Hobbs and then transferred to a hospital in Lubbock, Texas, which has a more advanced NICU unit.

When doctors assessed the baby, they found that his body temperate was so low that it did not register, indicating hypothermia. The newborn was also given a blood transfusion, and put on a feeding tube and oxygen. 

Police said the baby was in a stable condition at the hospital on Monday.  

During her interview with the police, Avila was quoted as referring to her child as ‘it.’

Avila’s mother, Martha Avila, told investigators she was not aware of her daughter’s pregnancy. 

Police later executed a search warrant at the family’s home and seized physical evidence, including bloody clothing.  

Imbriale told DailyMail.com that he ‘can’t sleep at night just knowing that this baby was just tossed in a dumpster like that. I’m sorry but who does that? That is evil. I don’t have words for it.’ 

Avila could face up to 15 years in prison, depending on what charges are ultimately filed said Dianna Luce, the district attorney.

Her arraignment is set for 2:15 p.m. on Wednesday, January 11, in Lea County District Court.