A Florida woman Maria Castillo, 27 gave birth in her shower and then killed her baby girl by putting her body in a plastic bag and hiding the bag under a pile of clothes in her bedroom.
Castillo is accused of placing her newborn baby in a plastic trash-bag shortly after birth. She told police she didn’t know she was pregnant when she went into labor April 28 while showering. After the shower, she hid the infant inside the bag beneath a pile of clothing in her bedroom.
Family members discovered the baby’s body and tried to resuscitate her but she was pronounced dead at the scene and, upon further examination, the Florida medical examiner found that the baby had been alive at birth. Castillo is charged with aggravated manslaughter.
Neighbors described Castillo has suffering from mental health problems.
Maria Macdalena Castillo told detectives she didn’t know she was pregnant. When she started giving birth in the shower in late April, she became scared. And then she acted, according to police.
Castillo, a 27-year-old resident of Tanglewood Apartments in Brooksville, is accused of placing her baby girl in a trash bag shortly after birth and then hiding the girl in her room, partially covered by clothing.
Briefly alive, the girl’s cause of death was listed as asphyxiation, hemorrhage and inattention at birth. It was ruled a homicide, according to Brooksville Police Chief George Turner.
“It’s a very gruesome, hard-to-understand crime,” Turner said.
Castillo was arrested Wednesday and charged with aggravated manslaughter of a child. She was being held at the Hernando County Detention Center in lieu of $30,000 bail.
Turner said the delay in her arrest was partially because police were waiting for the medical examiner to confirm whether the child was alive at the time of birth.
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Authorities say Castillo gave birth to the girl early on April 28. Instead of calling family members or emergency personnel, she put the child in a plastic trash bag and went to her bedroom. There, the newborn remained in the trash bag on the floor for about an hour, partially covered so she would be concealed from view, police said.
Turner said Castillo shared the apartment with her mother and Castillo’s adult siblings, all of whom apparently did not know Castillo was pregnant. They did not learn that she was pregnant until her brother went to take a shower that day and discovered what had happened, Turner said.
Her family went to the room and got Castillo to open the door, finding the partially covered baby. The brother started CPR, and the mother called 911. Emergency personnel arrived and continued to perform CPR. The baby girl, described as full-term, was then pronounced dead at the scene.
