A Florida mother is being charged with manslaughter in connection with the 2022 death of her newborn, who was found wrapped in shorts by his grandmother.
Bianca DeSouza, who was 19 at the time of the 2022 incident, was arrested on Friday.
On May 2 of that year, DeSouza’s mother discovered the hours-old infant on a bed alone, while DeSouza was laying in bed in another room in her Boca Raton, Florida home.The mother, who said she believed the child to be dead, asked DeSouza to call 911, but the suspect simply answered “my phone is going to die”.
The child’s death was ruled a homicide and the cause of death was deemed asphyxia.
The suspect told authorities that she was in shorts when she went into labor and she pulled the shorts to the side during the birth. She said the child came out of the right side of her shorts.
When officers arrived at the home, the found the newborn with shorts wrapped around his torso.
“I didn’t know what was going on. I gave birth,” she said. “After it happened, I kind of just sat there.”
DeSouza’s mother told authorities that her daughter initially planned on terminating the pregnancy, but then eventually decided to give the child up for adoption. She also claimed that her daughter originally didn’t want the child because she doubted her mental capability to raise him.
“I just didn’t do anything and I’m so mad,” DeSouza later told investigators, according to the affidavit. “It was like my body stopped working. He was just lying there crying.”
When authorities questioned what did she do when the baby was crying, DeSouza answered, “He didn’t cry very long. I ended up falling asleep. When I woke up he wasn’t crying anymore and I thought he was just sleeping. He was lying on his left side and I didn’t put him like that because I was scared to touch him.”
The suspect said she went and took a shower and laid down in her mom’s bed without checking on the baby. The teen mom insisted to authorities she didn’t know what happened to the baby or why he died. She claimed she would never hurt him.
The suspect’s mother said DeSouza has bipolar schizophrenia with PTSD. She also added that DeSouza had shifted around her medication during the pregnancy. The mother said DeSouza had been stressed about finding a safe home for the baby and likely had a “psychotic break”.
The medical examiner determined the child’s manner of death to be a homicide and the cause of death to be asphyxia, with the cause of injury including “chest compression.” The pathologist noted the child was born through the leg-hole of boxer shorts that Desouza kept on which, likely pressed his face against her thigh.
“DeSouza did not attempt to move herself, remove clothing, reposition the baby, pick up, comfort, seek medical attention, or otherwise care for the child,” the court document filed states. “She did not attempt to create an environment where the neonate could breathe without restriction during the birth process and failed to ensure his wellbeing after being born.”
DeSouza is currently facing charges of aggravated manslaughter of a child and child negligence. Plea information was not available in the court documents.
Desouza was booked into Palm County Jail and released after posting a bond of $25,000. She is set to appear in court again on Jan. 8.
