CHICAGO – Chicago police have confirmed a 16-year-old girl is the mother of a newborn found abandoned in an alley.
A woman and her daughter discovered the baby boy Tuesday night in Chicago’s Hermosa neighborhood. He was on top of a garbage bag, inside a shopping bag with his umbilical cord was still attached. The cord was not clamped, so he was bleeding.
They brought the baby to a fire station, and a fire department spokesman said the baby was “blue, unresponsive, no pulse.” Firefighters shocked the baby back to life before he was transported to a hospital. The baby was initially in critical condition, but is now stabilized at Lurie Children’s Hospital.
According to police spokesman Anthony Guglielmi, a 16-year-old girl came forward Wednesday night claiming to be the baby’s mother. Detectives have confirmed she is the mother, and she and the baby’s father are now being questioned by authorities.
Since the discovery of the abandoned baby, the family of 19-year-old Marlen Ochoa-Uriostegui said they believed the newborn could be her child. They asked police and DCFS to do a DNA test to see if there’s a connection. Her family said she was nine months pregnant when she went missing.
Police have indicated charges are possible.
According to a proponent of the Safe Haven Law, this is the first known case of illegal abandonment so far this year.