Trial begins for Alexis Avila, New Mexico teen accused of throwing newborn baby in dumpster

LEA COUNTY, New Mexico (KCBD) - Testimony has begun in the trial for a New Mexico teen accused of throwing her newborn baby in a dumpster back in January of 2022.

Alexis Nicole Avila is charged with attempted first-degree murder and, child endangerment causing bodily harm.

Hobbs Police Officer Jennifer Maxwell

Jurors heard testimony Wednesday morning from Jennifer Maxwell, the Hobbs police officer that responded to the call that a newborn had been found in a dumpster behind the mall in Hobbs. The baby was reportedly left in the dumpster for more than six hours.

During Maxwell’s testimony, she stated when she arrived the newborn was unresponsive and was wrapped in a cold, wet towel. She then stated that she observed a bruise on the baby’s head and dried blood all of his body.

The defense argued that Officer Maxwell did not know who placed the baby in the towel and that she did not know what caused the bruise on the baby.

Dr. Susan Heineck

The state then called Susan Heineck, the physician who provided initial medical attention for the newborn. She said that when the child arrived, the baby was blue in color, weakly crying and cold to the touch.

“Once you start getting cold and hypothermic, the body starts pulling the blood in to save the central organs. So that’s why the baby was blueish to the touch. Blood wasn’t really getting circulated out to the extremities because the body was trying to save the organs and getting the blood to the stuff that’s important and what we need,” Heineck said.

Dr. Heineck said the newborn was so hypothermic that the thermometer could not calculate a temperature. Heineck said in her 28 years as an emergency physician, she has never had a patient they couldn’t get a temperature on.

“This baby would have died if we hadn’t intervened and resuscitated,” Heineck said.

KCBD’s Natalie Faulkenberry is in Lea County and will provide the latest details on the trial.

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