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Utah Mom Arrested as Newborn Found in Trash Can Fights for Life

Alicia Marie Englert, 23, was arrested Tuesday on suspicion of attempted murder. The baby girl was in critical condition at a Salt Lake City hospital
Image: Police walk near garbage cans where a baby was found
Police walk near garbage cans where a newborn girl was found in Kearns, Utah, on Tuesday.Rick Bowmer / AP
/ Source: The Associated Press

KEARNS, Utah -- A Utah woman accused of dumping her day-old baby in a neighbor's trash can told police she was afraid to tell her parents about the pregnancy and hoped the newborn's death would solve her problems, a probable cause statement shows. Alicia Marie Englert, 23, was arrested Tuesday on suspicion of attempted murder.

The baby girl was in critical condition at a Salt Lake City hospital on a ventilator and fighting for her life, authorities said. The mother told officers she had left the baby about an hour before the child was found, authorities said. Englert told police the baby had not received any medical care or food. The baby was discovered by a woman who heard what she thought was a kitten meowing in the trash bin in the Salt Lake City suburb of Kearns on Tuesday morning, police said. The girl was airlifted to a hospital. "We had a young lady make a very, very terrible decision," Salt Lake County Sheriff Jim Winder said.

Image: Police walk near garbage cans where a baby was found
Police walk near garbage cans where a newborn girl was found in Kearns, Utah, on Tuesday.Rick Bowmer / AP
- The Associated Press