Teenager, 18, is charged with killing her newborn baby boy by throwing his body into a dumpster because ‘it cost too much money’
Teen, 18, is accused of killing her newborn baby boy by throwing his body in a dumpster because ‘it cost too much money’
- Jakayla Williams, 18, is currently being held without bail by Alabama police
- The high school graduate, from Dothan, gave birth to a son on Aug. 13
- She left him in a dumpster and lied to her family about his tragic fate
A teenager who left her newborn son in a dumpster shortly after giving birth faces the death penalty after she was arrested and charged with murder.
Jakayla Williams, an 18-year-old from Dothan, Alabama, is currently being held without bail on a capital murder charge after police found her son’s lifeless body wrapped in a blanket that had been stuffed into a dumpster at an apartment complex.
She admitted to Dothan police detectives that she didn’t want to care for her child because the cost of childcare was too high.
She reportedly gave birth to the baby in secret at her home, but when her family found out she was pregnant, she lied and said she gave birth at Southeast Health Medical Center.
Wanting to get the child back, her family took Jakayla, a recent graduate of the local Dothan High School, to the health care center, where the teen claimed she gave her baby to an employee.
Jakayla Williams, an 18-year-old from Dothan, Alabama, (pictured) is currently being held without bail on one count of capital murder
The recent high school graduate admitted to Dothan police detectives that she didn’t want to care for her child because childcare costs were too high
She told her family that she took the baby to Southeast Health Medical Center in Dothan
But the center’s staff reviewed the CCTV footage and discovered that Jakayla had not left her baby with them.
They contacted Dothan police, who subsequently found her lifeless baby among a pile of rubbish.
The child’s exact cause of death is currently unknown, although an autopsy has now been ordered on the child.
Will Benny, Dothan Police Chief, said at a news conference: “It is absolutely shocking. In all my years on the force, I’ve never heard of anything as horrific as this.
“It shocks the mind. It shocks the soul. I don’t even really know what else to say about it.’
Local prosecutors say they are still considering the sentence they will seek for the teen
In a tragic twist, the top agent said that if Jakayla had gone to the hospital, employees would have accepted care for the now-deceased child under Alabama’s “no questions asked policy.”
It is currently unclear what Jakayla’s fate will be if she is found guilty of the murder charge.
Local prosecutors say they are still considering the punishment they will impose in this case.
Houston County District Attorney Russ Goodman declined to comment on whether his office would attempt to sentence the 18-year-old to death.
“It’s something we haven’t even talked about yet,” he told the local news channel WTVY after her arrest.
“That will be a decision to be made later.”
While prosecutors may not yet have decided whether to send Jakayla to death row, the death penalty figures in her state may give her cause for concern.
Alabama sentences more people to death per capita than any other U.S. state, says the Equal Justice Initiative.
The state also does not impose an age limit on who can be sentenced to death.
In addition, the state allows death sentences to be passed without unanimous juries.
The nonprofit reports that 80% of people currently on death row in the state have not received a unanimous jury verdict for death.