‘She was afraid to touch him’: Newborn asphyxiates after mom ‘just sat there’ following home birth, police say

A 21-year-old Florida mother was arrested more than a year after she allegedly asphyxiated her newborn within hours of giving birth inside her home. Bianca R. Desouza was taken into custody on Friday and charged with one count of aggravated manslaughter of a child and one count of neglect of a child causing great bodily harm, court records reviewed by Law&Crime show.

According to the probable cause affidavit, officers with the Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office and Fire Rescue team responded to an emergency call at about 4:56 p.m. on May 2, 2022, regarding an unresponsive infant at a residence in an unincorporated area of West Boca Raton, Florida, about 45 miles north of Miami. The caller identified herself as the child’s grandmother and said she had walked into her daughter’s room and found the baby not moving.

Bianca R. Desouza (Palm Beach County Sheriff

Bianca R. Desouza (Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office)

First responders rushed the newborn to West Boca Medical Center, where the little boy died.

The baby’s mother, Desouza, then 19, told authorities she gave birth to the child in her bed and held him until he stopped crying, then she left him on the bed and took a shower without calling anyone. After the shower, she went into her mother’s bed.

“She said the birth happened quickly, and [she] did not know [the baby] was dead until her mom came in,” the affidavit states.

Desouza was scheduled to be induced the following day, and she and her husband had been talking about giving the baby up for adoption, the document states.

Desouza was checked into the Fort Lauderdale Behavioral Health Center, where she told staff she had a history of self-harm and severe depression. She also said she stopped taking her prescribed Lexapro two weeks before the incident, police wrote. Desouza’s mother told police that her daughter lived with psychosis and bipolar disorder.

In an interview with Desouza’s mother on May 4, 2022, she told police she thought her daughter “did something to the baby” and “might have had some sort of psychotic break.” She said Desouza was extremely stressed about not finding a suitable home for the baby to be adopted.

You May Also Like

‘Here we are again’: Trump blocked from enforcing ‘sanctuary jurisdiction’ cuts by federal judge who has seen this move before

US President Donald Trump sits during his meeting with NATO Secretary General…

Social Media Before Bedtime Wreaks Havoc on Our Sleep

By Brian N. Chin “Avoid screens before bed” is one of the…

‘Taking no action is not facilitation’: Judge orders Trump admin to bring back 2nd ‘wrongfully’ deported man

Main: President Donald Trump, left, waves as he greets El Salvador’s President…

‘Felt the infant’s side go in’: 9-week-old murdered by her father, who told police he was ‘tossing her in the air and catching her’

Khaliq Woods (Gwinnett County Sheriff’s Office). A Georgia man “violently squeezed” his…