Las Vegas police said Monday that the mother of the newborn whose body was found last week in the trash processing area of The Mirage is a 16-year-old girl.

The preliminary investigation indicates that she had concealed her pregnancy from her family and that after giving birth alone to a stillborn infant while visiting The Mirage, she panicked. She wrapped the baby in a towel and placed the bundle in a trash bin outside her room at the Strip hotel, Sgt. Jim Young said.

Police identified the mother using surveillance tapes provided by The Mirage. She is not from Clark County, Young said. Police would not release the girl's name or details about her or her family because she is a minor.

The infant was a baby girl with dark hair and was carried to full term. No signs of abuse were noticeable, police said.

No time of birth has been determined, but police said the level of decomposition suggests the infant was in the trash for at least two days.

Whether the child was stillborn is a critical question, and a matter that is being investigated by the coroner's office. If the child was born alive and discarded, the mother could be charged with murder. If the child were stillborn, she could be charged with concealing a birth, which is a gross misdemeanor. If evidence is inconclusive, she could be only charged with failure to report a death.

Criminal charges will not be determined until the case is reviewed by the district attorney's office, Young said.

Because the mother was from "out of town," Young said, she might not have been familiar with the state's Safe Haven Law, passed in 2001, which allows for mothers to abandon children at hospitals and fire stations during the first 30 days after birth. The mothers are immune from prosecution if they follow the law and there are no signs of abuse.

Lisa Teele, supervisor of the police department's abuse and neglect unit, said she urges overwhelmed mothers to take children to a safe place.

There are many misconceptions about the law, and many mothers think they will be punished or "people will know" if they call 911, Teele said.

"A lot of times, the mothers think, 'What will people think of me? What will my parents think?' " she said.

Teele said the case at The Mirage indicates "we are definitely not doing enough to let people know about the law."

Teele said that even if a child is stillborn, there are still health concerns for the mother that she should not be dealing with alone.