Surveillance cameras in the town of Hobbs, New Mexico captured a woman tossing her unwanted newborn into a dumpster on Friday, according to reports.
Disturbing video footage shows that around 2 p.m. local time that day, a young woman pulled up her car next to a dumpster, tossed a black bag into it, and then drove off.
Hours later, a group of people going through the dumpster fished out the baby. Fortunately, it all ended well for the newborn.
Read more about what happened below.
The surveillance video, which can be viewed below, was captured by cameras belonging to a local business called Rig Outfitters.
Joe Imbriale, the owner of Rig Outfitters, explained to Fox News what happened.
"I got a call about 8:30 on Friday, and Hobbs PD said, ‘Hey Joe are your cameras working out back?' They said we have a crime scene," Imbriale said, noting that he first thought there was a robbery.
But the video actually showed a young woman tossing what turned out to be a baby into a dumpster.
Keep scrolling for the video.
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But the same video shows that around six hours later, a group of three people going through the dumpster found and rescued the baby.
The three good Samaritans -- who have been identified as Michael Green, Hector Jasso and April Nuttall -- heard crying as they were going through trash, and first thought it was a kitten.
But when they picked up the bag, they realized there was a baby inside. They called 911 and police arrived within minutes, rescuing the newborn.
After reviewing the video, Hobbs police identified the mother as 18-year-old Alexis Avila and charged her with attempted murder and child abuse. She has since then been released on a $10,000 bond.
Avila told investigators that she did not know she was pregnant until last week and explained that she gave birth to the baby in her parents' bathroom. She said that she panicked, stuffed the newborn inside two plastic bags, and left it in a dumpster.
During her interviews with police, Avila reportedly referred to her newborn -- a boy -- as "it."
The baby's father is a juvenile.
Like all other American states, New Mexico has so-called safe haven laws, which decriminalize the leaving of unwanted infants in designated places.
According to police documents obtained by The New York Post, Alexis knew she put her child's life in danger when she left it in the dumpster.
"When asking Alexis what she thought would eventually happen to the baby by placing him inside of a plastic bag and dumping him, Alexis remained silent and couldn’t answer. An indication Alexis was well aware the baby would have died as a result," the documents say.
