Las Cruces woman suspected of leaving newborn for dead in portable toilet

LAS CRUCES, New Mexico (KVIA)- The Las Cruces Police Department has arrested a Las Cruces woman suspected of giving birth to a baby girl Saturday in a portable toilet at Burn Lake and then throwing the newborn in the holding tank.

According to LCPD, the woman arrested is Sonia Cristal Jimenez, 38, and she is being charged with one felony count of intentional child abuse resulting in death.

Police say that around 10:30 pm, Saturday, Feb. 7, 2026, staff from the Memorial Medical Center notified police that Jimenez arrived at the hospital and appeared to have just delivered a baby, but the baby was not with her.

Through investigation, police learned that Jimenez’s boyfriend, who took her Jimenez to the hospital, told officers that Jimenez had used a portable toilet at Burn Lake.

According to officials, LCPD located the portable toilet where they found the newborn girl dead in the holding tank.

Las Cruces Fire Department was called out to recover the newborn from the tank.

According to investigators, Jimenez is suspected of giving birth to a live baby, cutting the umbilical cord and placing the child in the holding tank where she drowned.

The LCPD says that an autopsy conducted Monday at the New Mexico medical investigator’s office in Albuquerque revealed that the baby was alive when she was dropped into the portable toilet. The autopsy showed that she breathed and swallowed the blue chemical liquid commonly used in portable restroom sanitation. The blue chemical was found in the baby’s trachea, lungs and stomach confirming that she breathed and swallowed the liquid while alive.

Investigators say Jimenez’s boyfriend might have been unaware she had given birth and no charges against him are anticipated.

LCPD investigators obtained a warrant for the arrest of Jimenez and was taken into custody Wednesday morning and booked into the Dona Ana County Detention Center where she is initially being held without bond.