SALT LAKE COUNTY, Utah — The body of a newborn baby boy was found on the side of the highway days after an 18-year-old mother was arrested for aggravated murder in Wasatch County.
The Unified Police Department told FOX 13 News that the Wasatch County Sheriff's Office requested help searching for the body as they believed it to be in UPD's jurisdiction.
UPD located the body on Monday, East of Lamb's Canyon exit on the south side of Interstate 80, officials report.
Estrella Meza-Ojeda gave birth to a premature baby boy on August 6 and spent 22 days in the newborn intensive care unit before being sent home.
Police report Meza-Ojeda was given oxygen tanks and an oxygen monitor for the child and was told he needed supplemental oxygen to stay alive.
Days after being sent home, police conducted a welfare check and found Meza-Ojeda without the baby.
She first told officers she sent the baby to be taken care of by a family friend in Mexico but changed her story multiple times and police obtained a search warrant for her phone, arresting documents report.
On the phone, they found search engine histories such as "how much time will I serve in prison for killing my baby," "taking a baby's life," "holy death," Kamas sewage treatment plant," "Salt Lake solid waste," and "garbage dumps near me."
An arrest report details that upon being questioned again, Meza-Ojeda began agreeing with the sergeant that the baby was no longer alive.
She confessed to police that she left the baby's body on the side of the road and showed them where she put the body, at I-80 Exit 131 in Parleys Canyon.
UPD located the body a few miles away, near the Lamb's Canyon exit at Exit 137.
Meza-Ojeda was arrested for aggravated murder, abuse or desecration of a body, and obstructing justice and is being held without bail.
