texan woAn East Texas woman told police she gave birth to her baby in a toilet before placing it in a mop bucket, leaving it outside her home, and going to sleep, an affidavit says.
Jazzlyn Nukenya Cooper-Holmes, 23, of Longview, was arrested in Lindale on Saturday and charged with abuse of corpse without legal authority after law enforcement conducted an investigation.
About 7:20 p.m. March 15, Smith County deputies responded to 18957 US Hwy 69 North in Lindale about a dead newborn baby at the location, according to Smith County Sheriff’s Office Public Information Officer Sgt. Larry Christian.
When deputies got to Cooper-Holmes’ home, they were directed to the backyard where they saw an overturned mop bucket covering a lifeless newborn that was wrapped in a towel.
Cooper-Holmes told police she gave birth around 4 a.m. March 12. She prepared for the birth ahead of time by preordering bedsheets, feminine hygiene products and Tylenol, according to an arrest warrant affidavit. She gave birth standing over a toilet “so that the baby would go into the toilet.”
The baby came head first into the toilet and Cooper-Holmes told police she only looked at it once, according to the affidavit.
Right after she gave birth, Cooper-Holmes wrapped the baby in a towel and put it in a mop bucket. She took the baby outside and put it on the ground.
Next, Cooper-Holmes went back inside and cleaned up the bathroom. After that, she told police she went back outside to see if the baby was alive.
“She then returned to her room and fell asleep,” the affidavit said.
Cooper-Holmes never went back outside to check on the baby, she told police.
Cooper-Holmes did contact the suspected father via Snapchat to say, “I was pregnant… that can’t happen again, I can’t be pregnant,” the affidavit said.
An autopsy has been ordered.
On Saturday, Smith County deputies arrested Cooper-Holmes and transported her to the Smith County Jail.
Cooper-Holmes remains in jail on a $1 million bond.
