Maricela Perez (pictured) allegedly left her newborn infant in the yard of a stranger’s home on March 3, 2016
More than a year after a woman abandoned her child in the front of a stranger’s home, Arizona police said they have arrested the mother.
Mesa Police said on Monday that they have charged Maricela Perez with one count of child endangerment and one count of child abuse more than a year after she allegedly left her newborn infant out in the cold.
On March 3, 2016, detectives believe that Perez, 24, left ‘baby Jane’ outside a residential property in a car seat near Alma School and 9th Place just hours after giving birth, according to ABC 15 News.
The newborn, police said, still had the umbilical cord attached.
Police used DNA forensic evidence found inside the car seat carrier and matched it with Perez whose information was stored in the Combined DNA Index System (CODIS). She was later arrested inside her Mesa home.
Police used DNA forensic evidence matched it with Perez whose information was stored in the Combined DNA Index System
Arizona’s Safe Haven Law allows parents to anonymously give up a baby in the first 72 hours with no questions asked unless the child is harmed
While in custody, Perez allegedly admitted giving birth in a bathtub and leaving her infant daughter in a dark yard where she would not be seen.
The newborn was taken to the hospital shortly after being discovered by the McCulloh family, where she was treated for hypoglycemia and hypothermia.
Perez told investigators that she intended to leave the small child with the Mesa Fire Department because she couldn’t explain to her current boyfriend that the child was not his.
Despite being aware of Arizona’s Safe Haven Law, Perez told police that she wavered from the plan after becoming concerned that the fire department would question her on why the baby had meth in its system, according to court documents.
Roseanna McCulloh (pictured left), whose son discovered the in infant, has tried to adopt ‘baby Jane’ but so far has been unsucessful
After dropping off her infant daughter, Perez returned home to her other two children.
‘We don’t want people to feel embarrassed, we don’t want people to feel that they’re doing something wrong by leaving that baby behind,’ said Mesa Fire Deputy Chief Forrest Smith.
‘Our number one concern is to be non-judgmental and to make sure that baby is safe and healthy.’
‘Baby Jane’ is reportedly healthy and still in the care of the state. The McCulloh family said they have tried numerous times to adopt the 20-month-old girl, but so far have been unsuccessful.
‘I’m just hoping she’s been living a loving and caring life,’ said Roseanna McCulloh, whose son, Robert Oliver, recovered the newborn last year.
Arizona’s Safe Haven Law allows parents to anonymously give up a baby in the first 72 hours with no questions asked unless the child is harmed.
The allows parents to take a child to the hospital, a fire station, certain churches or other designated places marked with a Safe Haven sign.
Perez, 24, allegedly left ‘baby Jane’ outside a residential property in a car seat near Alma School and 9th Place just hours after giving birth