A woman from Texas faces charges of abuse of a corpse for allegedly delivering a baby in a restroom of a fast-food restaurant in Bexar County and attempting to discard the infant in a toilet.
According to a report from KENS, a manager at the Whataburger where the incident occurred stated that the woman entered the establishment around midnight on Thursday and entered the restroom about two hours later. While inside, she was heard making noises but declined assistance and did not come out. Eventually, the manager contacted emergency services.
Upon arrival, deputies and firefighters discovered the newborn in the toilet, still enclosed in its amniotic sac. Despite attempts to resuscitate the baby, they were not successful. Both the infant and the mother were transported to Metropolitan Methodist Hospital, where the baby was pronounced dead.
A doctor told detectives the baby appeared to be 28 to 30 weeks along in the pregnancy and that injuries to the girl’s head indicated she may have been forced into the toilet drain.
The medical examiner has not yet issued a cause of death.
Mallori Patrice Strait, 33, has been charged with abuse of a corpse and is being held on a $100,000 bail.
Texas has a safe haven law in which a newborn can be brought to a safe space and left with no questions asked.
