HOBBS, N.M. (KRQE) – A newly released video shows a Hobbs police detective interviewing a teen mother who is accused of throwing her newborn baby in the trash. During the interview Alexis Avila, 18, insists she didn’t know she was pregnant until the day before. “I just thought I was gaining weight. I was eating more. Nothing changed,” said Avila.
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She claims she thought she was having stomach problems and back pain from an old car crash. “I just kept hurting. So I went to the clinic and they did a urine sample… and they told me I was pregnant. That’s when I found out,” said Avila.
As the detective kept pressing for the truth about how it all unfolded, Avila is seen getting flustered. She told the detective her parents never knew she was pregnant. Then when she woke up the next day, gave birth to the boy and wrapped him in a towel.
Avila: “I was in a panic. I didn’t know what to do. I was scared.”
Detective: “What did you do after?”
Avila: “I cleaned myself and just left it where it was.”
Avila says she thought about calling her mom but decided not to. “I was so scared she was going to hate me.”
Instead, she put the boy in a trash bag along with the garbage in her VW Jetta and wrapped it up with a hair tie.
Avila: “I just left and I drove around. I just put it where I put it.”
Detective: “Did you place it there? Did you throw it there? What did you do?”
Avila: “What do you mean? Like in the trash? I just tossed it in.”
Detective: “You wrapped a newborn in a trash bag?”
Avila: “I was in a panic. I just turned 18. It’s not like I’ve been 18 forever.”
Six hours after dumping the baby in a dumpster, people scavenging found the boy. Police watching the surveillance video caught a glimpse of Avila’s license plate and tracked her down.
It took almost 20 minutes during the interview before Avila asked how the baby was doing. Then, she abruptly asked if she could still be the boy’s mother. “If the baby is okay, I want it.”
At one point in the interview, Avila acknowledged that she did take two pregnancy tests in August. She said one was positive the other negative. She said opted to believe the negative one.
Avila is charged with attempted murder. The ex-boyfriend, who is the baby’s father, now has custody of the baby. He claims Avila told him she had a miscarriage.