Police hunt for mum who gave birth in gas station toilet before abandoning baby

02 August 2023 , 22:05

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Police hunt for mum who gave birth in gas station toilet before abandoning baby

Police are searching for a woman who gave birth in a gas station toilet before leaving her newborn to die.

The woman delivered the baby at the Shell Station on South Post Oak Road in Houston. After giving birth the woman left the baby in the bathroom, with another customer finding the infant at around 4:30am before calling paramedics.

Police identified a woman on CCTV as Hispanic, with footage seeing her getting out of the car at a gas pump before heading into the station. Cameras capture the woman's face clearly - with police saying she is a "person of interest believed to be the infant's mother".

However, Houston cops stated they are not certain of the woman's connection to the infant, adding: "We really don't know what the circumstances are or who she is in relation to the infant" a spokesperson told Law&Crime.

CCTV images of the woman walking into the gas station (Houston PD)

The woman was reportedly in the restroom for "about 15 minutes" before leaving, with the baby found an hour later. The incident occurred early on a Sunday morning on. April 2, adding there were few people around to either look into the situation or even use the restroom.

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Houston Detective Caleb Browning said: "No one else went inside that bathroom, and [the newborn] was not there when she walked in before. It appears that she gave birth in the restroom. I'd like to let her know that we just want to talk to her, we just want to find out some more information, want to be able to put in some answers to the situation. It's tragic that it's played out the way that it has."

A woman captured walking across the forecourt on CCTV as police seek to identify the individual (Houston PD)

Houston police do not know whether the baby was still born or died after the mother had given birth but noted that she had been dead for some time before she was discovered. No one has been charged in the case as of Tuesday and no charges are pending.

Harris County Investigators are still trying to determine the infant's cause of death, with the county's institute of forensic science still in the midst of an inquiry.

Abigail O'Leary