In the early hours of July 6, 2016, a newborn Hispanic baby girl, later known only as Baby Girl Salazar, was born into a world that would only know her for a fleeting moment. Her life began and ended in the bathroom of a Las Vegas apartment on South Maryland Parkway. The infant was found deceased in a bathtub by police officers who were dispatched to the residence after receiving a call from a local hospital.
The baby's mother, 20-year-old Veronica Salazar, had been taken to Sunrise
Hospital and Medical Center for severe bleeding. It was there that medical staff discovered she had recently given birth, a fact she had concealed from her family. When questioned, she admitted to delivering the baby in the bathtub and leaving her there. This prompted hospital staff to contact the authorities, who then made the grim discovery at her apartment.
An initial autopsy revealed that the baby girl was born alive, with air in her lungs and stomach. For a brief time, she had cried. Her mother told investigators that she had cut the umbilical cord with a disposable razor, wrapped the infant in a towel, and placed her in the tub. Afterward, she closed the shower curtain and asked her own mother, who was unaware of the birth, to call for medical help for her bleeding. The Clark County coroner's office later determined the baby's cause of death to be "birth asphyxia" and ruled it a homicide.
Veronica Salazar was arrested and charged with murder in connection with her newborn daughter's death. She had hidden her pregnancy from her family, reportedly because she did not want any more children. She already had a 4-year-old son. Following her release from the hospital, she was booked into the Clark County Detention Center. In August of that year, a grand jury indicted her on the murder charge.
