Crime · Fort Worth, TX
Mother Charged With Capital Murder After Newborn Found Dead in Fort Worth Motel Dumpster
Fort Worth Police responded about 8:40 p.m. Sunday to a motel where a newborn's body was found in a dumpster, and the infant was pronounced dead at a hospital. Avia Lynette Cantrell, 23, faces a capital murder charge after police say she admitted giving birth in her motel bathtub Wednesday morning and leaving the baby face-down in water for about 30 minutes. Her boyfriend, Camron Kyjuan Baker, 26, was arrested on an abuse-of-a-corpse charge after allegedly placing the body in the dumpster four days later. Cantrell is held on $2 million bond and Baker on $250,000 bond; the investigation remains ongoing. Following the case, Fort Worth Police reminded residents of Texas' Baby Moses Law, which allows parents to surrender an unharmed newborn at a designated location without prosecution for abandonment.