Baby abandoned on sidewalk with umbilical cord attached, Texas cops say. Mom arrested

An abandoned newborn boy led to the arrest of the child’s 28-year-old mom, Texas police said.

A man said he found the baby on a sidewalk near downtown San Antonio on Jan. 21, McClatchy News reported.

“The newborn was inside a basket wrapped up in a towel breathing weakly with the umbilical cord still attached,” San Antonio police said in the report obtained by McClatchy News.

Eventually, the man told police he knew where the baby was born and where his mother, later identified as Ava Marie Guerra, was, according to a Jan. 29 Facebook post by San Antonio officers.

Guerra told authorities she had given birth to the baby in a friend’s bathroom, police told KSAT.

After examining the baby, doctors learned he had methamphetamine in his system, KSAT reported.

The baby was taken to the hospital in critical condition with life-threatening blood loss, officials told KENS5.

Police later determined the man took the baby from the apartment to seek medical attention, authorities said.

On Jan. 27, Guerra was arrested on an active warrant on charges of injury to a child/reckless serious bodily injury, police said.

As of Jan. 29, the baby remains in critical condition, police said.

This story was originally published January 30, 2025 at 3:00 PM with the headline "Baby abandoned on sidewalk with umbilical cord attached, Texas cops say. Mom arrested."