A mother who allegedly left her newborn baby in a trash Dumpster was held Wednesday on a $100,000 bail in the child’s death.
Melanie Blevins, 22, of Westminster, is charged with first-degree murder in the October death of her newborn son in the 2600 block of St. Paul Street in Baltimore.
A state assistant medical examiner determined the child died of asphyxiation, according to charging documents.
Police were called to Union Memorial Hospital about 10:30 p.m. on Oct. 4, where doctors told them that Blevins was in the emergency room complaining of urinary pain.
Blevins told medical staff she had just given birth to a baby hours before she arrived at the hospital “and it was dead,” according to a police report.
Police went to the St. Johns United Methodist Church, where Blevins said the baby died, and found the child inside a white plastic trash bag in a Dumpster. Blevins had been living in the church’s basement as part of a missionary services organization, officers said.
Blevins told police she “concealed her pregnancy from family and friends,” and that the child was stillborn, prompting her to throw his body away.
But an autopsy revealed that the child was alive when born, and his death was ruled a homicide, police said.
Blevins has a court hearing scheduled for Jan. 13.
