Newborn found in trash on ventilator; mom Alicia Marie Englert arrested

A 24-year-old Utah woman arrested after police found her newbo baby daughter in her neighbor's trash can has been named as Alicia Marie Englert.

Police say Englert gave birth to the child sometime on Sunday and then left her in a neighbor's garbage in the hope that the evidence would be taken away by trash collectors.

The newbo baby girl was listed in extremely critical condition Tuesday after she was admitted to hospital suffering hypothermia and malnutrition

Englert is facing an attempted murder charge.

Englert's neighbor heard what she thought was a kitten meowing in the trash bin in the Salt Lake City suburb of Keas at around 7am Tuesday and discovered the newbo, Unified Police Detective Jared Richardson said.

The child was airlifted to a hospital in Salt Lake City, where she is now on a ventilator and fighting for her life.

Her mother, who was being questioned by police, later retued and told officers she had left the baby about an hour before the child was found.

Salt Lake County Sheriff Jim Winder, who oversees the Unified Police Department, said authorities believe the baby girl was bo Sunday.

Winder said at a news conference that investigators did not have any information about where the mother gave birth or why she may have left the baby in the trash can.

'We had a young lady make a very, very terrible decision,' he said.

On Tuesday evening, a woman who identified herself to Good4Utah as the young mother's sister came forward claiming that the 24-year-old did not know she was pregnant.

'She doesn't think like a 24-year-old,' the woman explained, adding that her sister has leaing disabilities. 

Englert was taken to a hospital Tuesday to receive medical attention and undergo a mental evaluation. 

There were no visible injuries to the child, who appears to have been suffering from a general lack of medical care. There is also no information about the newbo's father, Winder said. 

At the news conference, Salt Lake County Mayor Ben McAdams and health officials listed resources available for expectant and new mothers, including a crisis hotline and the state's safe haven law, which allows mothers to leave newbos at hospitals, no questions asked.

A handful of infants are dropped off at Utah hospitals under the safe haven law every year, said Al Romeo with the Utah Department of Health.

It's not common for a mother to abandon a child in a trash can or other unsafe place, but there have been a few cases over the past 10 years, he said.

Romeo cited the discovery in April of seven dead newbo babies in the garage of a home in Pleasant Grove, Utah. Police believe the mother killed six of the infants after giving birth to them over a decade. A seventh baby is believed to have been stillbo.