Mother Pleads Guilty To Placing Newborn In Trash Bag And Abandoning Him In Dumpster

Wilmington -- A woman in North Carolina pleaded guilty to abandoning her baby boy in a trash can.

Maryuri Macedo, 23, was charged with first-degree attempted murder, intentional child abuse, and negligence leading to serious injury. She entered a guilty plea in court Monday and received a prison sentence of 16 to 20 years.

The newborn that Macedo abandoned in July 2020 was rescued after a passerby found him in a trash can in Wilmington, WWAY reported.

Macedo, who was 21 years old at the time, had given birth in a toilet on July 16, 2020. She had left the crying infant in the toilet for several hours before putting him in a trash bag and placing him inside the trunk of her vehicle. The mother then proceeded to drive her 2-year-old daughter in the same car and went shopping for groceries, and eventually abandoned the baby in a dumpster behind a church just hours after he was born.

A woman walking her dog along Fairview Drive stopped by the dumpster when she heard the baby's cries. She found the infant with his umbilical cord tied around his neck.

“I was walking my dog and went by a trash can and all of the sudden heard a noise of a baby crying and I almost passed it, but I thought I should go back,” the passerby said in her 911 call. “ ... I looked at the trash bag and still heard cries so I ripped it open for air and ran to the apartment to get someone to help me.”

The boy survived the incident and is now in his father’s care along with his sister.

Macedo admitted to dumping the baby in the trash because she had “no love for the baby.”

The DA’s Office said in court that Macedo's actions were premeditated.

“We just felt like, the fact that she had a two-year-old child that she loved, and took care of, and the length of time that she spent from the time that this child was born at 8:00 in the morning to when she decided to abandon him in that garbage can, you know, 7-8 hours later, that this was a premeditated decision from her,” said Assistant District Attorney Lance Oehrlein, according to WECT.

Oehrlein said Macedo had other options and reminded parents of the Safe Surrender law in New Hanover County.

“A good reminder is we have a safe surrender, safe haven law in North Carolina that allows any parent to bring a child within seven days of birth with no questions asked to a safe, responsible adult. You won’t get prosecuted for anything,” he said, according to WWAY.

Macedo read a statement in court Monday and said the guilt and pain “will never go away.”

“I love my children very much,” she said. “If I had been in the right mind, none of this would have happened. I feel so bad for my beautiful son, beautiful daughter, and my family. The guilt and the pain will never go away. I hope someday they can forgive me.”