Document: Infant found dead in shed had 9 stab-like wounds

Court documents obtained by ABC-7 state the newborn infant found dead inside a shed in Far East El Paso suffered nine stab-like wounds. The infant’s mother allegedly confessed to giving birth to the baby in a restroom then placing it in a shed.

Investigators arrested the baby’s mother, 17-year-old Erica Gomez, on February 23, 2018 and charged her with Capital Murder. Gomez was booked into the El Paso County Detention Facility under an $800,000 bond.

Deputies responded to Gomez’s home in the 13000 block of Frankie Lane at around 7 pm on February 9, 2018, to conduct a welfare check in reference to an infant.

A criminal complaint affidavit obtained by ABC-7 states the homeowner called deputies to report his 13-year-old son found the body of a baby inside a shed in his property. The homeowner took the baby’s body into his kitchen while deputies arrived.

According to the criminal complaint, a forensic examination of the baby revealed nine wounds: “three sharp wounds on the (baby’s) neck, one sharp wound under the (baby’s) right armpit and five sharp wounds on the (baby’s) back.”

“All the sharp wounds found on the (baby’s) body were similar to that of stab wounds and were consistent with a form of penetrating trauma to the skin,” the criminal complaint states.

Under interrogation, Gomez allegedly admitted to giving birth to the baby in a restroom toilet, cutting the umbilical cord with scissors and wrapping the infant with a bathrobe, the document states. Gomez allegedly carried the baby to a storage shed about 30 yards away from her home. She allegedly told investigators she did not report the birth because she was scared, the document states.

Gomez told investigators she went back inside her home and fell asleep for several hours. When Gomez’s mother found her, Gomez was bleeding. The mother took Gomez to a hospital, where Gomez was told she had “just had a miscarriage.”

Gomez allegedly told investigators she was the only one who handled the baby at the time of its birth. An investigation revealed the baby was in the shed for nearly 12 hours until the homeowner’s son found it. Investigators said interviews with relatives reveal no one went inside the shed until the 13-year-old boy found the body.

The criminal complaint makes no mention of how the infant suffered the nine stab wounds. The sheriff’s office tells ABC-7 Gomez is on suicide watch. ABC-7 has also learned Gomez was enrolled at El Dorado High School.