Police say a baby girl was born alive in a portable toilet and died after being placed in the holding tank.
LAS CRUCES, N.M. — A Las Cruces woman has been charged with intentional child abuse resulting in death after police said she gave birth in a portable toilet and left the newborn in the holding tank, where the baby died.
The allegation against Sonia Cristal Jimenez, 38, grew out of a late-night hospital call on Feb. 7 that quickly shifted into a death investigation at Burn Lake. Police say the case turned on medical evidence showing the baby girl was born alive, making the central issue not concealment of a birth but criminal responsibility for the child’s death. Jimenez was arrested Feb. 11 and booked into the Doña Ana County Detention Center, where authorities said she was initially held without bond.
According to police, hospital staff at Memorial Medical Center contacted officers around 10:30 p.m. after Jimenez arrived appearing to have recently given birth, but no baby was with her. Investigators then spoke with her boyfriend, who had taken her to the hospital. Police said he told them the pair had been at Burn Lake earlier and that Jimenez had used a portable toilet there. Officers searched the area and found the newborn girl in the holding tank of the portable restroom. Firefighters recovered the infant, who was dead. Police later said investigators believe Jimenez gave birth inside the unit, cut the umbilical cord and placed the baby into the tank before leaving for the hospital. Authorities said they do not expect charges against the boyfriend because they do not believe he knew the baby had been delivered there.
The autopsy became the most significant public evidence in the case. Las Cruces police said the New Mexico Office of the Medical Investigator determined that the baby had been born alive. Investigators also said the blue sanitation liquid used in portable toilets was found in the infant’s trachea, lungs and stomach. Police interpreted those findings to mean the child inhaled and swallowed the fluid while alive. That detail is what moved the case beyond a hidden-birth narrative and into a first-degree felony allegation involving the baby’s death. It also explains why the charge is framed as intentional child abuse resulting in death rather than a lesser offense tied only to disposal or concealment after birth.
The location itself gave the case unusual force. Burn Lake is a public outdoor area, and the portable toilet was a place intended for routine public use, not a private setting hidden from view. That contrast made the investigation especially stark once officers realized what they were looking for. Police Chief Jeremy Story described the case as among the most heartbreaking and disturbing of his career. Even so, the courtroom issues will be precise. Prosecutors must prove that Jimenez knowingly and intentionally placed the child in a life-threatening situation that caused her death. Because there were no known witnesses inside the portable toilet when the birth happened, the prosecution is likely to rely heavily on timing, medical evidence, the recovery scene and statements investigators gathered after Jimenez reached the hospital.
Publicly available records still leave some questions unanswered. The reports released so far do not describe a detailed public defense statement. They also do not indicate whether prosecutors plan to file additional counts. What they do provide is a tight timeline from the hospital call to the search at Burn Lake and an autopsy result that police say supports the most serious version of the case. That has made the forensic evidence more important than almost any other single element. It is likely to shape every major hearing, from probable cause arguments through any eventual plea talks or trial.
Jimenez remains jailed as the Doña Ana County case proceeds. The next public milestone is her court appearance on the child-abuse-resulting-in-death charge and the state’s fuller presentation of the evidence behind the autopsy findings.
Author note: Last updated March 15, 2026.