The daughter of a Baseball Hall of Famer was arrested after she gave birth to a baby in the woods in sub-zero temperatures and misled police about the whereabouts of the abandoned baby, authorities said.
Alexandra Eckersley, 26, was arrested Monday and charged with abandoning her newborn baby in a tent «with no heating or proper clothing in the woods» in freezing 15-degree weather, according to charging documents.
She is the daughter of Baseball Hall of Fame pitcher Dennis Eckersley, a longtime broadcaster for the Boston Red Sox, a rep for the baseball player confirmed to nbc boston.
Alexandra Eckersley called 911 just before 12:30 a.m. Monday saying she had given birth in the Manchester woods, and police, along with fire and medical personnel, searched for the girl to no avail, according to the statement. arrest juror.
Given the dire circumstances and extreme cold, a state police K-9 unit joined the search to find «what they believed to be a body at the time,» the affidavit says.
After nearly an hour, Eckersley, described as homeless, «revealed the baby’s true location and led officers to the area.» said the police.
The baby was found «alive and moving» in a large tent made of tarpaulins at a campsite. The boy, who was found lying on the floor next to the bed behind a blanket, was hospitalized.
It was an hour and 13 minutes from the 911 call to the time the boy was found, according to the affidavit.
Court documents reveal that the child was likely born prematurely on Christmas Day and weighed 4.41 pounds.
A doctor told police the child’s size was consistent with Eckersley’s six-month pregnancy at the time of the birth, according to court documents.
Eckersley told detectives that she was in pain on Christmas Day and believed she was constipated or bleeding. She told an EMT that she «had no idea» that she was pregnant, according to the affidavit.
However, she had told a confidant a week earlier that she was four to five months pregnant, according to the affidavit.
When asked why she walked away after giving birth, she replied «that she didn’t know what to do,» the filing said.
A responding officer believed he was under the influence of drugs and claimed that “Eckersley would sometimes wobble and shake from side to side.”
Another officer said in the affidavit that he appeared to have been under the influence of some type of narcotic. She admitted to that officer that she uses cocaine and marijuana, but she said the last time she used the substances was two days earlier, according to the affidavit.
Eckersley eventually told detectives that she had given birth and that she and her boyfriend left the store and crossed a nearby footbridge to wait for an ambulance. She said she tried to call 911 several times but the calls didn’t go through.
When asked by an officer why she didn’t take the baby with her, she said: “What do they tell you when a plane goes down? Save yourself first,» according to the affidavit.
She admitted that she and her boyfriend agreed to tell police the birth took place in a different area so police wouldn’t find or take their tents, the affidavit says.
She was arrested Monday and charged with reckless conduct, second-degree assault for extreme indifference, falsifying physical evidence and endangering the welfare of a child, according to documents filed in North Hillsborough Superior Court.
She appeared in court from her hospital bed by phone Tuesday and was ordered held on $3,000 bail. NBC Boston reported.
Her lawyer argued in court Tuesday that Eckersley was traumatized.
“I don’t think it’s unreasonable at all that she was disoriented, confused, possibly suffering from hypothermia, if she had just given birth outdoors,” Jordan Strand said, the station reported.