Texas police officers hunt for a woman who gave birth in a gas station restroom and left her baby for dead as they release security footage of the suspect
- The incident dates back to the early morning hours of April 2 at a Shell station in Houston
- A customer found the child in the bathroom around 4:30 a.m. and called paramedics
- Police have not yet found the mother and have released video of the woman they believe to be the suspect entering the gas station an hour earlier
Texas police have released video footage of a woman they say gave birth in the bathroom of a Houston gas station, left the newborn there to die, and ran off earlier this year.
The incident dates back to the early morning hours of April 2 at a Shell Station on South Post Oak Road.
A customer found the child in the bathroom around 4:30 a.m. and called paramedics.
The baby girl had died by the time the Houston Fire Department ambulance arrived on the scene.
Police have yet to find the mother and have released video of the woman they believe to be the suspect entering the gas station before leaving in a white Cadillac.
Texas police have released video footage of a woman they say gave birth in the bathroom of a Houston gas station, left the newborn there to die, and ran off earlier this year.
The edited footage shows the suspect, whom police identified only as a Hispanic woman, getting out of the car at one of the gas pumps before entering the station.
Her face is clearly visible when she zooms in as she enters a convenience store before getting back into the Cadillac and driving away.
The video does not show her entering or exiting the gas station bathroom, but police have said she is the “person of interest, believed to be the child’s mother.”
However, they have clarified that they are still not entirely sure of the woman on camera’s status as a suspect.
“We really don’t know the circumstances or who she is in relation to the child,” a spokesman said Law & Crime.
Police said the woman was in that toilet for “about 15 minutes” before she left, with the baby found an hour later.
They noted that this happened early Sunday morning, meaning there were few people around to watch the situation or even go to the toilet.
“Nobody else went into that bathroom and[the newborn]wasn’t there when she came in earlier,” said Houston Detective Caleb Browning.
The incident dates back to the early morning hours of April 2 at a Shell Station on South Post Oak Road
Police have yet to locate the mother and have released video of the woman they believe is the suspect entering the gas station before leaving in a white Cadillac
The edited footage shows the suspect, whom police only identified as a Hispanic woman, getting out of the car at one of the gas pumps before entering the station
Police said the woman was in that toilet for “about 15 minutes” before she left, and the baby was found an hour later
Bowling added that multiple witness statements and footage that have not been made public support that information.
Houston police don’t know if the baby was still born or died after the mother gave birth, but noted she had been dead for some time before being discovered.
As of Tuesday, no one has been charged in the case and no charges are pending.
Investigators in Harris County are still trying to determine the cause of the child’s death, while the county’s forensic science institute is still investigating.
Browning said police have exhausted “all other investigative techniques” and are now calling on the suspect to turn himself in.
“It looks like she gave birth in the toilet,” Browning said at a news conference.
“I’d like to let her know that we just want to talk to her, we just want to know a little more information, we want to be able to provide some answers to the situation. It’s tragic that it played out like this.’