Spring Valley, NY - The mother of a newborn boy has been
charged with strangling the infant and leaving his body in a recycling bin in
the New York suburbs.
Maria Oliva Guaman-Guaman, 23, made “a full confession” and
was arraigned Tuesday night on a charge of second-degree murder, Spring Valley
police Chief Paul Modica said Wednesday.
“There were tears, but I can’t really say she was remorseful,”
the chief said. “She told the investigator she didn’t want the child, and later
on she said, ‘I can’t afford another child.’”
He said Guaman-Guaman has a 2-year-old daughter, now in the
care of child welfare officials.
The county public defender’s office, which is handling the
case, did not return a phone message. A not-guilty plea was entered at the
arraignment, a court clerk said.
The police chief said the murder charge specifies death by
strangulation, but he would not say how the baby was strangled.
After the killing, he said, the mother left the baby’s body
in a recycling bin near her Spring Valley home, 30 miles north of New York
City. That bin was taken to a recycling center in Elmsford, where the body, its
umbilical cord still attached, was discovered Nov. 12.
The infant was traced to Spring Valley, and Modica said DNA
and “50 to 60” tips helped them focus on Guaman-Guaman. Some women’s clothing
and a towel were found with the baby.
As police searched for the mother, they named the infant
“Baby Angel” and arranged a funeral.
The chief said the mother had not named the baby.
Modica said Guaman-Guaman is from Ecuador and was deported
from the United States in either 2008 or 2009. He was not certain of her
current immigration status.
He said she was living with relatives but not with the
father of her daughter.
The case will go to a Rockland County grand jury, the chief
said.
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