The mother of a newborn baby attempted to kill her child after a home birth in Las Vegas, Nevada, police said.
Police said they were called to the emergency room at Mountain View Hospital on Saturday for a report of a new mother who refused to enter the hospital and was “bleeding profusely,” they wrote in an arrest report.
Police said the newborn’s mother, 22-year-old Ashley Hollingsworth, had tried to kill the child with a blanket.
Hollingsworth was located more than two hours later with severe injuries to her head, police said.
Investigators learned that Hollingsworth had given birth in a toilet about an hour before they were called to the hospital.
On the way to the hospital, police said “Ashley had wrapped [a] blanket around the baby’s head and was pushing the blanket against the baby’s face.” Doctors initially believed the newborn may have suffered a brain bleed, but staff later determined the child likely did not suffer any injuries.
While speaking with detectives the next day, a witness told police Hollingsworth reportedly said there was “something evil” in her stomach that was “trying to kill” the baby. Hollingsworth later told police in an interview that she believed the baby was “probably evil.”
“After seeing the baby’s eyes, smelling what she described as an abnormal scent, and the baby grunting at her, Ashley decided to wrap the blanket around the baby’s head,” police wrote in their report.
Hollingsworth was found with self-inflicted injuries to her face, police said.
Police arrested Hollingsworth on Wednesday. She faces charges of attempted murder and child abuse or neglect. She was being held without bail ahead of a court hearing next week.
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