HOUSTON, TX – An 18-year-old mother in Texas was recently taken into custody after allegedly abandoning her newborn baby in a dumpster, hidden inside a trash bag. Everilda Cux-Ajtzalam was arrested last week and is facing a serious charge of child abandonment without intent to return, according to court records.
The criminal charges, filed in the District Court for Harris County, claim that Cux-Ajtzalam gave birth behind a food truck where she worked on July 21, 2024. She is accused of putting her newborn son, referred to as “John Doe” or “CW” in legal documents, into a tied-up garbage bag and leaving him in a dumpster on Dashwood Drive in Houston, Texas.
The court records further reveal that the defendant put the newborn, along with the placenta and umbilical cord, into a trash bag, which she then discarded in a dumpster. A passerby later heard the baby’s cries and promptly notified the authorities. Houston Police Department officers and emergency medical personnel arrived at the scene around 1:15 p.m. and were able to rescue the child from the dumpster.
The Houston Fire Department’s medics rushed the infant to Texas Children’s Hospital for medical care. The baby was reported to be in stable and good health. After receiving treatment, he was placed under the care of Child Protective Services.
Investigators managed to connect the newborn to the food truck and subsequently located Cux-Ajtzalam. During a conversation with detectives, Cux-Ajtzalam allegedly stated that she felt she “had no choice” but to abandon her child, fearing that her boyfriend would terminate their relationship if she didn’t. The incident was recorded on surveillance cameras.
Cux-Ajtzalam, a Guatemalan national, made her first court appearance last Friday. Harris County District Court Judge Veronica M. Nelson scolded her for leaving her son in a garbage heap. Judge Nelson pointed out that the child’s survival was due to pure luck and the potential danger posed by the summer heat in Houston, Texas. The judge set the bail at $90,000.
Prosecutors had initially requested a bond of $150,000, while Cux-Ajtzalam’s public defender argued for a bond of $7,500. Despite the bail being set at $90,000, Cux-Ajtzalam remains in detention at the Harris County Jail due to an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) hold on her release. She is scheduled for a court appearance on Monday.