North Texas officials highlighted legal infant-surrender options after a newborn was found dead outside a Fort Worth motel.
FORT WORTH, Texas — The death of a newborn girl found near a Fort Worth motel dumpster has prompted renewed attention to Texas’ safe-haven system as the child’s mother faces a capital murder charge and her boyfriend is charged with abuse of a corpse.
The criminal investigation centers on 23-year-old Avia Cantrell and 26-year-old Camron Baker, who were arrested after the infant was discovered Sunday, Oct. 18. As detectives continued investigating the baby’s death, North Texas emergency officials pointed to the state’s Baby Moses Law and designated surrender locations as alternatives available to parents who cannot care for a newborn.
Under Texas’ Baby Moses Law, a parent may surrender an unharmed child who is 60 days old or younger to an employee at a designated emergency infant care provider, including certain hospitals and fire stations. Some communities also operate secure baby boxes designed to allow an infant to be surrendered safely and anonymously.
The discussion followed the discovery of the newborn outside the Drummers Inn on Camp Bowie West Boulevard. Fort Worth police were called at about 8:40 p.m. after a woman searching through a dumpster found a bag containing the child. The infant was later pronounced dead.
Investigators identified Cantrell after a relative contacted police the following day and requested a welfare check, telling officers that Cantrell had been pregnant and was believed to be nearing her due date. Police also reviewed motel surveillance footage as they worked to determine how the infant came to be near the dumpster.
According to an arrest affidavit, Cantrell later told investigators that she gave birth to a full-term baby girl in the bathtub of her motel room on Oct. 14. Police allege she left the newborn face down in the bathwater for about 30 minutes. Cantrell then believed the child had died and placed the infant in a bag, investigators said.
Police allege the infant remained in the motel room for four days. Investigators said Baker later acknowledged taking the child’s body to the dumpster. Cantrell was charged with capital murder of a person younger than 10, while Baker was charged with abuse of a corpse. Neither charge establishes guilt, and the allegations remain subject to the court process.
The case led officials elsewhere in North Texas to highlight secure surrender sites. McLendon-Chisholm Fire Chief Eddie Stough told CBS Texas that his department has operated a Safe Haven Baby Box since January. The device provides a way for a parent to leave an infant in a protected compartment that alerts emergency personnel after the parent has departed.
Stough said his department’s system alerts fire and emergency medical personnel as well as child-protection authorities after a child is surrendered. CBS Texas reported that another baby box was installed in Rowlett during the summer and that a newborn had been safely surrendered through a box in Ennis earlier this year.
The existence of safe-haven options does not determine what happened in the Fort Worth case or resolve the criminal allegations against Cantrell and Baker. Investigators are relying on interviews, surveillance material and other evidence described in the arrest affidavit, while the Tarrant County Medical Examiner’s Office works to establish the infant’s official cause and manner of death.
Fort Worth police said the investigation remains ongoing. Cantrell and Baker were listed in Tarrant County custody Wednesday, and no final court determination has been made. The medical examiner had not publicly released a final cause of death for the newborn.
Author note: Last updated October 21, 2026.