"BABY DOE" NEWBORN - at birth (8/2012) - / Charged: Mother; Alexandria Sladon-Marler - Ft. Lauderdale FL

Newborn found dead in trash bin in Fort Lauderdale
Police say body found wrapped in pillowcase and towels

Published On: Aug 25 2012 05:42:53 PM EDT

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. -  Fort Lauderdale police are investigating the death of a newborn found wrapped in a pillowcase and towels in a trash bin outside a Fort Lauderdale motel.

The South Florida Sun Sentinel reports the newborn was found earlier this month, but a newly released search warrant shows police are investigating the death as a homicide.

Police have questioned a woman who lived in the area.

The Sun Sentinel reports the medical examiner found that the jagged end of the umbilical cord attached to the woman is consistent with that of the child's.

The woman was taken to the hospital earlier this month where doctors determined her baby had not been delivered professionally.

She is not being identified by The Associated Press because she has not been charged in the case.

http://www.clickorlando.com/news/Newborn-found-dead-in-trash-bin-in-Fort-Lauderdale/-/1637132/16267522/-/sv4s4fz/-/index.html?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter

Newborn found dead wrapped in pillowcase, towels outside Fort Lauderdale hotel

August 24, 2012
By Juan Ortega, Sun Sentinel

FORT LAUDERDALE — A male newborn wrapped in a pillowcase and towels was found dead in a trash bin outside a beachside Fort Lauderdale motel earlier this month, according to a newly released search warrant.

Now, police are investigating the infant's death — police refer to him as "Baby Doe" — as a homicide, the search warrant said.

Alexandria Sladon-Marler, 33, known to live in the Fort Lauderdale area, has been questioned by a doctor over her baby, the warrant said. According to state records, she hasn't been charged in the case.

The warrant does not state that the baby found in the trash bin is that of Sladon-Marler. However, a medical examiner said that the umbilical cord attached to the infant was consistent with the jagged end of the umbilical cord attached to Sladon-Marler, the warrant said.

Sladon-Marler couldn't be reached for comment Friday despite phone calls to listed numbers. A friend of Sladon-Marler's relative, who was interviewed by police, declined to comment.

A medical examiner concluded the dead infant appeared full term, or 37 weeks, and concluded the child was delivered alive, saying his lungs contained air, the warrant said. An examination of the umbilical cord attached to the infant showed that "it had been torn / ripped and not severed with a cutting-type instrument," the warrant said.

In the hours before the baby was found dead Aug. 10, Sladon-Marler was taken from her second-floor unit at Fort Lauderdale Beach Palace Hotel and Suites to Broward Health Medical Center, the search warrant said. A doctor examined Sladon-Marler in the emergency room and determined she no longer was pregnant, the warrant said.

Based on his examination, the doctor determined her baby had not been delivered professionally, the warrant said. The doctor told police that when asking the patient the baby's location, she said she had him aborted a few days earlier, but declined to say where, the warrant said.

Sladon-Marler has had run-ins with the law, state records show. In 2006, she pleaded no contest to cocaine possesion, records show. Earlier this year, she was arrested on a court order stemming from two municipal ordinance violations, cases that ultimately were dismissed.

She had been residing since mid-June at the hotel, with her room paid by her aunt, the warrant said.

About 10 a.m. Aug. 10, Sladon-Marler asked a hotel housekeeper to clean her room, the warrant said.

The housekeeper saw blood on the bathroom floor and sink, and a concerned hotel manager phoned Sladon-Marler's aunt who responded to the hotel with a friend, the warrant says. Paramedics then took Sladon-Marler to the hospital, the warrant said.

About 3 p.m., police went to the hotel at 3711 N. Ocean Drive. Police checked Sladon-Marler's room, but found no baby. Soon after, they found the body in a trash bin outside the hotel building, the warrant said.

http://articles.sun-sentinel.com/2012-08-24/news/fl-fort-lauderdale-baby-doe-homicide-20120824_1_search-warrant-umbilical-cord-trash-bin

Mother charged with death of newborn baby after she 'stashed him in hotel dumpster and told hospital staff she had botched abortion'

By DAILY MAIL REPORTER
PUBLISHED: 07:16 EST, 4 September 2012
UPDATED: 07:16 EST, 4 September 2012


Investigation: Alexandria Sladon-Marler is believed to have dumped her dead newborn baby boy in a trash can

The mother accused of leaving her newborn son in a dumpster after telling hospital workers she had a botched abortion has been charged with her baby's death.

Alexandria Sladon-Marler, 33, from Fort Lauderdale, was arrested yesterday on charges of manslaughter and child neglect causing great harm.

Police found the baby boy wrapped in a towel, stuffed in a pillowcase and dumped in the trash cans of a hotel.

The gruesome discovery was made by police on August 10.

Sladon-Marler was treated by emergency doctors at hospital that same day.

Doctors found that she still had an umbilical cord attached to her and did not believe Sladon-Marler when she told them that she’d had an abortion.

'They asked her what she thought she was suffering from,' Garcia told CBS. 'She advised she’d had an abortion. They found that was not true. She had actually given birth to an infant.'

Hospital employees called the police and told them that the patient had been staying at the Fort Lauderdale Beach Palace Hotel.

Responding officers then found the infant’s body hidden in the dumpsters outside the hotel.

According to doctors, the severed umbilical cord on Sladon-Marler matched the cord that was attached to the baby.

Sladon-Marler was rushed to Broward General Medical Center after her concerned aunt arrived at the hotel and found her niece covered in blood.

This is not Sladon-Marler’s first run in with the law. In 2004, she was charged with cocaine possession and between 2009 and 2011 she was charged with trespassing. In 2010, she was charged with petit theft.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2198104/Alexandria-Sladon-Marler-charged-murder-newborn-baby-left-hotel-dumpster.html

MOM WHO KILLED NEWBORN SON DECLARED MENTALLY ILL

Posted on Sep 5, 2012 3:15pm PDT

Alexandria Sladon-Marler had a newborn infant that she didn’t want. Rather than put the child up for adoption, or take him to Child Protective Services, she left him in a trash bin in Fort Lauderdale to starve. The helpless infant was found in the hotel trash dumpster, already dead. The mother strange decision was a result of her mental illness, as declared by her defense attorney in court. According to Marler’s defense attorney, the woman suffers from severe mental abuse illness because of brain damage and substance abuse.

Her attorney argues that she wasn’t thinking clearly when she tossed her young baby into a bin. The 33-year-old has been charged with aggravated manslaughter and child neglect, but if the court recognizes that the woman is mentally insane it may be a tactic that can help to reduce or eliminate her sentence. Marler has not yet entered a plea bargain, and is being held without bond in a Broward County Jail.

The mother is supposed to appear before a Circuit judge on Wednesday, and her defense attorney will tell the judge about Marler’s impressive community ties in order to help win her a release on bail. The assistant public defender in the case says that her client may have been delusional about the pregnancy because she suffers from severe mental illness. Allegedly, Marler was in a severe car accident when she was only 15 that diminished her mental capacity significantly. Marler had allegedly been committed to mental health institutions for evaluations several times in the past.

As well, a family member once tried to have her involuntarily committed to a mental health institution for substance abuse treatment, but the effort failed. The defense lawyer argued that Marler’s neurological, mental, and substance abuse issues have all gone untreated. She claimed that she had her baby aborted days before the delivery would take place, but an autopsy was able to determine that the infant in the dumpster was born and lived for several days because his lungs had filled with air. If you or a loved one committed a crime out of mental impairment, then make sure to get a lawyer form Parks and Braxton on your side to help. We can use your mental incapacity as a defense against your crime!

http://www.parksandbraxton.com/Criminal-Defense-Blog/2012/September/Mom-who-Killed-Newborn-Son-Declared-Mentally-Ill.aspx