A woman has been indicted on two charges in connection with the death of her baby, police say.
Jazmin Lopez faces two charges, murder and tampering with evidence, according to the Denton County District Attorney's Office.
She was arrested in April 2019 after an employee found a dead baby inside a flowerpot at a Carrollton cemetery.
Police say Lopez identified herself as the mother of the dead baby after seeing news coverage of the incident.
The man who found the remains told police he noticed a new flower pot arrive between two headstones about 10 days before he found the baby.
He told police he didn’t know where the flower pot came from.
On the morning of March 11, he said he decided to clean up the pot because "it didn’t seem to belong," according to the arrest warrant affidavit.
He says he flipped the flower upside down to dump what he thought was wet dirt. But in addition to dirt, a baby’s small body fell out. Police say the umbilical cord was still attached.
The Dallas County Medical Examiner’s Office performed an autopsy and said there were no obvious signs of injury or trauma to the infant.
Court records show Lopez was released after posting a surety bond of $250,000 in May 2019.
Didn't know she was pregnant
Police records show Lopez told detectives that on Feb. 4, 2019, she gave birth alone at her residence in Denton County.
She claimed the baby did not move or was not breathing when it was born.
According to the arrest warrant affidavit, Lopez says she fainted after giving birth. When she woke up, the baby still wasn’t breathing and appeared to be dead, she said.
When detectives interviewed Lopez, she told them no one in her family knew about the baby and that she did not receive medical attention during her pregnancy, police documents say.
While searching her cellphone investigators found evidence that showed Lopez had named her baby "Kailen," according to the affidavit.
In addition to the baby's name, police found a photo of the baby and conversations between Lopez and a male, authorities say.
According to the affidavit, Lopez had searched for information on how to get a pill to abort her pregnancy and had looked up abortion clinics.
The story changes
On April 12, 2019, detectives conducted a follow-up interview with Lopez. That's when her story changed, authorities say.
During this interview, Lopez said she was in labor while her grandmother slept next to her and that around 5 a.m. Feb. 4, her grandmother woke up to make breakfast, the affidavit says.
That's when Lopez says she could feel the baby coming out and attempted to give birth in the restroom but couldn't because it was occupied by her uncle.
Instead, she went into a closet, according to police records.
Once her uncle left the restroom she went inside the room and gave birth. This time, Lopez told detectives that her baby was gasping for air when she was born, police say.
Lopez says she took a shirt and covered the baby’s mouth before it could start crying, according to the affidavit. She allegedly tried keeping the baby quiet until she could leave the residence, records show.
Lopez then cleaned the bathroom, went into her room and placed the baby inside a basket, the affidavit says.
At that point, the woman told police her grandmother went into her room and asked why she looked pale. Lopez claims she did not tell her grandmother that she had just given birth.
Instead, she went into the kitchen for breakfast, police records say.
When she was done, she called a friend to pick her up and put the newborn in a backpack, the affidavit says.
Buying the flower pot
Lopez says when she got out of her friend's vehicle she knew the baby wasn’t alive anymore because the baby "wasn’t moving like before," according to court documents.
At that point, Lopez and her friend went to Home Depot, bought a flower pot, soil and flowers and put the baby inside.
Lopez's friend allegedly kept the flower pot with the baby's body inside and left it inside her vehicle overnight, police records say.
The next morning, on Feb. 5, 2019, Lopez and the friend met at the cemetery and left the baby and flower pot there, according to police.
During this second interview with detectives, Lopez maintained that no one in her family knew of her pregnancy.
She claims she was only trying to keep the baby quiet until she could leave the residence, according to the affidavit. But according to detectives, Lopez did not have any items inside the residence indicating she planned on taking care of the newborn, police records show.
Detectives also said Lopez never asked for help from her grandmother, father or uncle who were believed to be home when she gave birth, the affidavit says.
Lopez admitted to police that she had searched for information regarding abortions and said she planned to drive to New Mexico to get a late-term abortion, according to the affidavit.
She told police she even considered taking "plants" to induce a miscarriage.
