Body camera footage obtained by Law&Crime shows the moment New Mexico police arrested 19-year-old Alexee Trevizo on murder charges for allegedly dumping her newborn baby in the hospital trash.
When officers arrived to take Trevizo into custody, they were greeted by her mother, who insisted on seeing an arrest warrant and asked why her daughter was being arrested. Officers told her it was an open count of homicide and tampering with evidence.
“Tampering with evidence! At the hospital?!” the mother said.
The mother gets on the phone and appears to be talking to Trevizo’s attorney inside the home for a bit.
While the officers are waiting, one asks whether they should arrest the mother for obstruction. The other two officers agree that’s not necessary
“We won’t go there,” one of the officers said.
When the mother comes back out, she asks the officers not to be “rough” with Trevizo when they arrest her.
Ultimately Trevizo comes to the door where officers explain what is going on. They allow her to go back inside to retrieve some pads before taking her out to the police car and placing her in handcuffs.
The video then cuts to the Eddy County Jail where officers take Trevizo through the booking process including giving her the criminal complaint and taking swabs of her mouth.
Trevizo was booked on May 10 and released after posting $100,000 bond on May 16. Her trial is scheduled for October, according to online court records.
Alexee Trevizo (Artesia Police Department)
Baby found in hospital bathroom
Investigators claim Trevizo went to an Artesia hospital in January complaining of severe back pain. While she was there, hospital staff members believe she locked herself inside a bathroom, gave birth, then stuffed the baby into the bathroom’s trash can.
A custodian who had cleaned up a restroom after the defendant used it noticed that the trash bag was heavier than usual, she checked and discovered the newborn.
“The baby’s dead,” a hospital worker can be heard saying to officers on body camera footage obtained by Law&Crime. “She killed the kid.”
A medical examiner classified the newborn’s death as a homicide, noting the death was not consistent with stillbirth as the little baby boy had air in his lungs.
After four months of investigation, Trevizo was arrested and charged with first-degree murder, child abuse and tampering with evidence, court records show.
“Artesia Police Department detectives presented case information to the 5th Judicial District Attorney’s Office on March 28, 2023. A criminal complaint was approved on May 10, 2023, and formal charges were filed on the suspect, and mother of the victim,” cops said.
As police phrased it, Trevizo is charged with first-degree murder “or alternatively” intentional abuse of a child resulting in death, plus one count of tampering with evidence.
“[T]he above-named defendant(s) did: Kill John Doe, a human being, without lawful justification or excuse,” the complaint said, alleging that Trevizo “did knowingly intentionally or negligently, and without justifiable cause, cause or permit John Doe, a child, to be placed in a situation that endangered or might have endangered John Doe’s life or health and the abuse resulted in the death of John Doe.”
The defendant did also “destroy, change, hide, place or fabricate physical evidence, to wit [John Doe], with the intent to prevent the apprehension, prosecution, or conviction,” the complaint added.
Trevizo’s attorney, Gary Mitchell, argued his client should not face a murder charge, stating “this isn’t a classic child abuse case” and noting Trevizo doesn’t have a criminal record.
When asked why Trevizo put her baby in a trash bag, Mitchell said she believed the baby was dead.
“She still tried to do the right thing by her baby, I’ll tell you that much. And that baby wasn’t put in the trash right away,” he said.
When Trevizo was admitted to Artesia General Hospital on January 27, Mitchell said she did not know she was pregnant.
“She is shocked whenever she delivers a baby,” Mitchell told the Law&Crime Network. “I already have a real good idea of what caused the baby’s death. It had nothing to do with my client. She was not at fault.”
Mitchell also appeared to suggest that he would challenge the autopsy results on the baby.
“It depends on the science. And the number one thing that stuck out to me is the autopsy report where the pathologist claims [they] found air in the baby’s lungs, which they claim would indicate a live birth. It’s going to depend a lot on that finding,” he explained.
Bodycam of hospital confrontation
Body camera footage previously obtained by Law&Crime showed the tragic moment when medical staff, police, and her mother confronted Trevizo for allegedly hiding her dead newborn son in a trash bag.
At the beginning of the footage, a nurse told responding officers that Trevizo had a positive pregnancy test and had denied having sex. She said she had to go to the bathroom and was in there for quite a while, he said. They got her to open the restroom and discovered “blood and s—” everywhere, he said.
“We discovered a dead baby in the bathroom,” the doctor said.
Trevizo said the baby came out of her, and she did not know what to do.
“Lexee, I told you about this,” her mother said. “I just asked you, baby, to tell me the truth.”
Trevizo said she was scared. She told everyone the baby was not crying.
Trevizo’s mother left, saying she had to call her husband, but she immediately returned to press her daughter on where she put the baby.
Trevizo said she put the baby in a bag.
An officer in the video told the mother to give her time and that Trevizo will speak to detectives.
Authorities did not release the baby’s name, only calling him the placeholder John Doe.
Released from custody
Trevizo was released after posting $100,000 bond on May 16. She was not allowed to attend her high school graduation
“They’re not going to allow her to go to her graduation because of the controversy in the community. And they just don’t want to have any chaos. She’s agreeable to that,” Mitchell said of Trevizo’s graduation.
Law&Crime Network reached out to Artesia High School for comment. Superintendent Thad Phipps replied via email, “I am unable to make a comment on personal student matters.”
“There was not an order or command from the school, as far as we know. They just asked that she not be there so as not to generate any issues whatsoever. And so she agreed to that,” Mitchell said.
Her release stipulations require her to follow a 7 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. curfew — but she is not required to be on house arrest or wear a GPS ankle bracelet.
“I don’t think that there’s anything surprising or unusual about it,” defense attorney Charles Rittgers told Law&Crime Network referencing Trevizo’s release. “I don’t think she’s a flight risk. The whole purpose of bond is to make sure that someone shows up in court. And probably $100,000 in this situation is more than adequate to make sure that she shows.”
According to Mitchell, Trevizo went back to school after giving birth in January, but following her arrest, only returned to take a final exam. He said she has a 3.86 GPA and is already committed to attending New Mexico State University.
“She has absolutely no criminal record, not even a moving traffic stop. That’s no juvenile record, no suspension from school ever, no infraction at school,” he said. “[She was] a member of the cheer team since she was a freshman in high school, member of the choir. Just an all around top notch student and person.”
Trevizo faces up to life in prison if convicted of first-degree murder.
Law&Crime’s Alberto Luperon and Sierra Gillespie contributed to this report.
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