HARRIS COUNTY, Texas — New details were released Friday after a newborn boy was found in the back of a garbage truck in northwest Harris County on Wednesday.
Deputies were called out to a neighborhood off North Eldridge Parkway near Spencer Road shortly before 9:30 a.m. on Wednesday.
According to Harris County Sheriff Ed Gonzalez, a waste collection crew discovered the dead newborn when they stopped to compact the trash they had collected from several streets.
A neighbor's surveillance camera captured the moment investigators said the crew made the discovery.
The sheriff on Friday said homicide investigators located the child’s birth mother. She told them that sometime on Sunday morning, she was suffering from severe abdominal pains and ended up giving birth to the infant and passed out.
The woman told investigators that after she woke up, she discovered the infant unresponsive and deceased.
The sheriff said the Harris County Institute of Forensic Sciences has completed its pathology exam. However, due to the severity and injuries of the infant, the pathologist classified the manner of death as “undetermined.” The child, who had an estimated birth age of 1 day to 30 days old, had injuries consistent with the baby being crushed by the blade of the hopper from the garbage truck.
The sheriff said it was undetermined if the infant was born alive or stillborn.
Investigators contacted the Harris County District Attorney’s Office, but no formal charges were accepted as of Friday afternoon.
Watch the updates HCSO gave at the scene on Wednesday: