Fort Worth police charged a mother with capital murder after her newborn was found dead in a motel dumpster. Her boyfriend is charged with abuse of a corpse.

The details here come from an arrest affidavit, and an affidavit is the police version of events. Police say Cantrell admitted leaving the baby face down in bathwater. That alleged statement will be the center of this case, and the defense will get to test how and when it was made. Both are in custody, and no bond has been set publicly.

A 23-year-old Fort Worth woman has been charged with capital murder of a person under 10 years old after her newborn was found dead in a dumpster at a motel, and her 26-year-old boyfriend has been charged with abuse of a corpse, CBS News Texas reported Tuesday, Oct. 20, 2026, citing an arrest affidavit. Police identified them as Avia Cantrell and Camron Baker. Both remained in the Tarrant County Jail, and no bond amounts had been released, the station reported.

Fort Worth police said officers were called to the Drummers Inn in the 7300 block of Camp Bowie Boulevard at about 8:40 p.m. on Sunday, Oct. 18, after an infant was found. According to the affidavit, a homeless woman who was searching a dumpster found a bag, opened it at the business next door and found the child. She and a friend alerted someone at the motel and borrowed a phone to call 911. The baby was taken to a hospital and pronounced dead, police said.

Investigators returned Monday to review surveillance video, CBS News Texas reported. Around the same time, the affidavit says, Cantrell's sister-in-law asked police for a welfare check because Cantrell had been pregnant and was due soon. An officer said Cantrell seemed nervous and denied being pregnant. Police said video from June showed her with a larger stomach, and footage showed a woman carrying a box of items, including a car seat, to the dumpster where the baby was found. The motel manager identified Cantrell, who police said had lived at the motel with Baker and her children for about two years.

According to the affidavit, Cantrell eventually told detectives the baby was born at about 7 a.m. on Oct. 14 in the bathtub of her motel room, and that she left the moving baby face down in the water for about 30 minutes. She told police she assumed the baby had died, covered the child and put the body in a bag. Police said she then called Baker. The affidavit says the couple kept the bag near the toilet for about four days before Baker put it in an overnight bag and placed it in the dumpster. Police said Baker admitted that and told them they did not call police because they "didn't want to catch a case." Those are statements police attribute to the two in a charging document.

Cantrell's three other children are now with a relative, police said. The affidavit also says Cantrell claimed Baker had previously thrown away a miscarriage, while police wrote that the baby found Sunday was born at full term. Fort Worth police said the investigation is ongoing. Neither Cantrell nor Baker has been convicted, and the charges must still be presented to a grand jury. All defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.