Teen Charged with Murder, Allegedly Stabs Newborn After Giving Birth in Basement

A teen mother is accused of murdering her newborn baby, whose body was found with stab wounds in the basement of a Colorado home, KCNC-TV reports.On Friday, prosecutors in Weld County, Colorado, charged the mother, Leiyla Cepeda, with first-degree murder in connection with the death of the infant.Cepeda, who is from Texas, was reportedly 17 years old at the time of the baby’s death, but she turned 18 on Friday and is being charged as an adult, according to the Weld County District Attorney’s Office.Police were called to a home in Nunn, Colorado, early Wednesday for a report that a dead female infant had been found. Another female in the home called 911 and reportedly helped clean up the scene before authorities arrived, according to a police affidavit obtained by KCNC-TV.Cepeda had delivered the baby early that morning. She told medics that she had not been feeling well and had not disclosed to her family that she was pregnant, KMGH-TV reports.Investigators say there were apparent stab wounds to the child’s torso. Cepeda reportedly told medics that the child was not breathing, moving or crying upon being delivered.Cepeda told police that she did use scissors to cut the umbilical cord, but she claimed the scissors were not near the child and denied harming the baby.

Officers found the child in a basement bedroom and observed a small pair of scissors with what appeared to be dried blood on them near the foot of the bed. Officers also reportedly saw blood throughout the room, including on the floor, walls, curtains and on towels.Underneath the bed police found underwear, leggings and napkins that contained an unknown liquid. There also appeared to be a cut umbilical cord and membrane on the floor.As of Friday, Cepeda was being treated for bleeding at a hospital and required blood transfusions and a medical procedure to stem the bleeding.A nurse told investigators that Cepeda indicated she had stopped her thyroid medication when she learned she was pregnant, which is inconsistent with previous claims by the teen that she did not know she was pregnant.Cepeda told police that she had taken a pregnancy test several months earlier and the results were allegedly negative, according to the Associated Press.The coroner concluded that the child was born alive because there was blood in the baby’s chest and bruising around the stab wounds, the AP reports. An autopsy found that the stab wounds punctured the baby’s heart and lungs.

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