SMITH COUNTY, Texas (KLTV/Gray News) – A woman in Texas was charged after authorities said she birthed her baby into a toilet before leaving it in a bucket to be found dead later.
An arrest affidavit said 23-year-old Jazzlyn Cooper-Holmes gave birth to the infant on March 12 around 4 p.m. at her home in Lindale.
Holmes reportedly said she prepared for the birth by ordering bedsheets, feminine hygiene products and Tylenol.
Holmes said she gave birth while standing over the toilet, where she “only looked at it once” before wrapping the baby in a brown towel and placing it in a red bucket, according to the arrest document.
She said she then put the bucket outside behind the trailer, where she only checked on it once after cleaning the bathroom and before she went to sleep, according to the affidavit. Holmes said she did not check on the infant again.
KLTV reports Holmes told officials she contacted the suspected father of the child through Snapchat.
“I’m pregnant,” she said. “That can’t happen again, I can’t be pregnant.”
Deputies with the Smith County Sheriff’s Office responded to the location Wednesday after Holmes’ roommate, the homeowner, called concerning the infant. Responding officers located an overturned mop bucket covering the lifeless newborn infant, still wrapped in the towel as Holmes left it three days before.
Police said Holmes was arrested Thursday and charged with abuse of a corpse without legal authority.
She is held on a $1 million dollar bond.
