by Andrew Delgado & Bailey McGowan / KENS 5
Posted on January 14, 2014 at 11:09 PM
Updated today at 4:38 PM

SAN ANTONIO -- An arrest was made Tuesday evening in the capital murder case of the infant boy found dead at a San Antonio Waste Management center last month.

Nidia Alvarado, 25, was arrested at an apartment complex in the 1500 block of Jackson Keller Rd. She is accused of killing and discarding her newborn baby boy.

Alvarado has been charged with capital murder and illegal entry, since the suspect was residing in the United States illegally, according to the San Antonio Police Department.

Police said two other children were found inside the apartment with Alvarado when she was taken into custody, a 5-year-old and a 2-year-old. Those kids were handed over to Child Protective Services.

A duffel bag containing the infant's body was found by an employee working a trash-sorting line at the waste management facility, just before 1 p.m., on Dec. 23, 2013, Lisa Doughty with Waste Management said.

The facility immediately stopped operations and notified police.

Waste Management provided investigators with records of every truck that arrived at the facility between Dec. 21 and noon on Dec. 23.

According to an arrest warrant, investigators were able to trace the infant and the duffel bag back to Alvarado through a hospital surveillance video.

"It appears that the suspect gave birth to the baby. She gave a fictitious name at the hospital," Sgt. Javier Salazar with SAPD said. "Detectives were able to find out her true identity and tracked her down, just through some really good detective work."

Police said, once questioned, Alvarado admitted to officers she had tried to get someone to teach her how to perform a self-abortion. When that didn't work out, she delivered the child and left the hospital -- where she was admitted under the name 'Karen Mendoza.'

Alvarado then strangled the baby and watched him die, before leaving the body inside a dumpster at a San Antonio apartment complex, according to the arrest affidavit.

The Bexar County Medical Examiner's Office shows 'Baby Mendoza' as a tentative identification for the infant victim. There is a hold on the body, pending the investigation.

Wednesday, Alvarado was in the process of being transported to the Bexar County jail. She is being held on a $2 million bond for the murder charge. There is no bond set for the illegal entry charge.

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement released the following statement regarding Alvarado:

"U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) placed a detainer with Bexar County Jail on Nidia Yolibeth Alvarado on Jan. 15. Ms. Alvarado had been previously removed to Honduras in April 2006.

ICE is focused on smart and effective immigration enforcement that prioritizes the removal of convicted criminal aliens, recent border crossers and immigration fugitives who have failed to comply with final orders of removal issued by the nation’s immigration courts.”


Authorities said the entire ordeal could've been avoided had Alvarado taken advantage of the Baby Moses Law in Texas.

The following are criteria that must be met in order to be protected by the Baby Moses Law:

- The child must be two months or younger.

- The infant has to be unharmed and safe.

- The baby must be dropped off at any hospital,
police department, fire station or EMS station in Texas.

- The child must be given to an employee in a designated safe haven.

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