The 19-year-old mother in Texas who told cops she had to leave her baby in a dumpster because her boyfriend “would break up with her” will go to prison.
Court records show that on Monday, Harris County District Judge Veronica M. Nelson told Everilda Cux-Ajtzalam that she would have to spend seven years in a state prison. To make a deal with the prosecutors, Cux-Ajtzalam agreed to plead guilty to one count of felony abandoning a child in immediate danger of physical harm for leaving the boy, who was later named “Gabriel,” in the trash behind the taco truck where she worked.
Someone walking by heard the boy’s cries and called the police, which saved his life.
Cux-Ajtzalam had already served 369 days of her sentence since she was arrested last year and has been in jail since then.
“Today, baby Gabriel is healthy, thriving, and living with his foster parents,” the Harris County District Attorney’s Office told the Houston Chronicle. “We are grateful to the person who happened to hear his cries from the dumpster, called police and ultimately saved Gabriel’s life.”
As was already known, Cux-Ajtzalam gave birth “on the ground behind the food truck where she works” on July 21, 2024. She then put the baby in “a tied garbage bag” and left him in a dumpster in the 6000 block of Dashwood Drive in Houston, Texas.
A magistrate judge wrote in a bond order that the defendant “put the child, placenta, and umbilical cord into a trash bag, took the trash bag to a dumpster, and left the child in the dumpster tied inside the trash bag.” The order also included a short account of what happened.
Later, someone who was walking by the trash can heard the baby crying and called 911. Around 1:15 p.m., police officers from the Houston Police Department and emergency medical workers arrived at the scene and were able to get the child out of the trash.
The victim was taken to Texas Children’s Hospital for care by medics from the Houston Fire Department. The police said the child was safe and doing well. He was taken into the care of Child Protective Services after being treated.
The baby was quickly linked to the food truck, and Cux-Ajtzalam was found. She told police that she “had no choice” but to throw the baby in the trash because “she didn’t want her boyfriend to break up with her,” according to the bond order. The “event” was also caught on camera by a nearby security camera.
Nelson first heard Cux-Ajtzalam’s case in July 2024. The judge scolded the would-be mother for leaving her son to die in a pile of trash.
The fact that the child was found and given care was pure luck, Nelson told the Chronicle. “Given the fact that it’s the middle of summer in Houston, Texas, and the temperature at the time noting the danger to the child; under those circumstances, I’m going to set the bail in this case at $90,000.”
The Washington Post reported that Cux-Ajtzalam had said in the past that her child was the result of a family member raping her. Reports say she didn’t know she was pregnant for about seven months and was afraid to go to the doctor because she was an undocumented immigrant and didn’t want to get deported.
