Woman Gives Birth, Throws Her Baby in a Porta Potty
A New Mexico woman has been charged with intentional child abuse resulting in death after allegedly giving birth to a live baby girl in a portable toilet and placing the newborn in the holding tank, where the infant drowned, authorities said.
Sonia Cristal Jimenez, 38, of Las Cruces, was arrested Wednesday morning and booked into the Doña Ana County Detention Center, where she is being held without bond.
She faces one first-degree felony count of intentional child abuse resulting in death.
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The incident occurred on Saturday, Feb. 7, 2026. Around 10:30 p.m. that evening, staff at Memorial Medical Center notified Las Cruces police that Jimenez had arrived at the hospital appearing to have just delivered a baby, but the infant was not with her.
Jimenez’s boyfriend, who took her to the hospital, told officers they had been at Burn Lake earlier, where Jimenez used a portable toilet. Investigators responded to Burn Lake off Burn Lake Road and located the deceased newborn girl in the holding tank of a portable toilet.
Las Cruces firefighters recovered the body.
Investigators believe Jimenez gave birth to a live baby, cut the umbilical cord, and placed the child in the holding tank, where she drowned. An autopsy conducted Monday at the New Mexico medical investigator’s office in Albuquerque confirmed the baby was alive when placed in the tank.
The examination revealed the infant breathed and swallowed the blue chemical liquid commonly used in portable restroom sanitation systems, with the liquid found in her trachea, lungs, and stomach.
The boyfriend was unaware that Jimenez was pregnant or had given birth, and no charges are anticipated against him.
Pro-life advocates decry such acts as tragic failures to protect vulnerable unborn and newborn life, highlighting the need for greater support for women in crisis pregnancies to prevent such outcomes.
The case remains under investigation by the Las Cruces Police Department.
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