Newborn Found Naked, Alone In Woods; Mother Arrested For Misleading Cops

A New Hampshire mother has been arrested after she left her newborn baby alone inside a tent in a wooded area with no clothes or blankets. The woman waited an hour before disclosing her infant's exact location to cops.

Alexandra Eckersley, 26, was arrested in Manchester on Monday. She is facing charges of lying to first responders about her newborn son's whereabouts.

Eckersley gave birth to her son in the woods and called for help, saying her son was born prematurely, CBS News reported. When officers reached the area in the wee hours of Monday, there was no baby in sight.

Eckersley, who is reportedly the daughter of baseball hall-of-famer Dennis Eckersley, initially led the cops in the wrong direction.

After searching for an hour in 18-degree temperatures, ambulance personnel finally convinced Eckersley to give them her baby's exact location.

"We searched the woods for over an hour, the woman was not being helpful," said district fire chief Jon Starr, reported NBC10 Boston. "She actually sent us initially to a part of the area that was opposite of where the baby was found, but finally ambulance personnel were able to convince her to give us the true location and we did find the baby, exposed, undressed, naked in a tent, outdoors in the cold last night."

"It was about 18 degrees last night," the fire chief added. "It was cold."

The child was found all alone on the floor of the large tent, which had a heat source inside but was not turned on. Although the baby was moving, he needed help breathing, Starr said.

"The ambulance and fire crews were able to take the baby out, the nearest piece of apparatus we had that was warm was a fire engine, they got it in there, they started immediately assisting the baby to breathe and keeping the baby warm, and they rushed to the hospital in the fire engine," he added.

The child is now recovering.

"We were amazed that the baby's still alive," Starr noted.

"The mother, Alexandra Eckersley, 26, was arrested on an unrelated warrant out of Concord District Court for Endangering the Welfare of a Child and was subsequently charged with felony - reckless conduct in connection with this recent incident," Manchester Police Department said in a statement.

"There is no excuse for this," Police Chief Allen Aldenberg said. "If you choose to live in the woods and choose to live your life a particular way and you choose not to accept our outreach, fine. But you don't get to do this to do what we are alleging to a child."