Texas student sentenced after newborn found dead in dorm trashcan

Natalie Annell Weaver, 21, of Springfield, Mo., who authorities say, gave birth in 2018 in a dormitory bathroom at Southwestern Assembly of God University in Waxahachie and left the newborn, with the umbilical cord wrapped around its neck, to die in a trashcan, is headed to prison after pleading guilty to manslaughter and abuse of a corpse.

“This was a horrific and inhumane crime. A precious newborn was literally thrown in the garbage by her own mother. It’s both shocking and mind-boggling. And it didn’t have to happen,” Ellis County and District Attorney Patrick Wilson said.

Weaver entered the pleas Wednesday in exchange for a five-year sentence on the manslaughter charge and a 400-day sentence on the abuse of a corpse charge,

Waxahachie police officers found the dead female newborn in a plastic bag inside the trashcan on April 17, 2018.

Weaver denied giving birth, but authorities say evidence gathered during the investigation made it obvious that she delivered the infant in the dormitory bathroom, and then failed to seek medical assistance for the girl, who was born with the umbilical cord wrapped around her neck.

“Texas has a Baby Moses Law that allows and encourages mothers to take unwanted infants to designated safe havens, such as hospitals or fire stations,” Wilson said.

“All Weaver had to do was take her baby to one of those locations, just minutes away. She would have avoided prosecution and, more importantly, her baby girl would probably still be alive.”

Weaver was indicted in October 2018 and turned herself in on Nov. 13, 2018.