Suspected mother arrested after giving birth in Subway bathroom
A woman who was suspected of giving birth and abandoning her infant in a toilet at a Subway restaurant in West Covina, Calif., has been arrested on suspicion of attempted murder, police said.
According to KTLA, the abandoned newborn was discovered after a customer noticed a woman leaving the restroom bleeding and alerted an employee at the restaurant. The two went into the bathroom and found an umbilical cord leading into the toilet with the crying infant sitting upright, half submerged in the toilet water.
According to West Covina Police Department Cpl. Rudy Lopez, the baby was full term. The placenta was then found in a trash can in the restroom.
Shortly after the infant was discovered, police followed a trail of blood on the sidewalk, which led them to the suspected mother, a Filipina transient woman named Mary Grace Trinidad, 38, in an alleyway behind a nearby Pep Boys auto shop.
Trinidad, who was wanted on a prior drug-related warrant, was arrested and booked on suspicion of attempted murder and child endangerment. The baby boy was taken in critical condition to Queen of the Valley Hospital, where he remains in the neonatal intensive care unit, police Lt. Dennis Patton said.
Contact Caitlin Lilly at clilly@reviewjournal.com. Find her on Twitter: @caitielilly_
