A Texas woman triggered a nationwide manhunt Tuesday when authorities say she stabbed the mother of a newborn child to death and disappeared with the infant. After tracking down the woman, authorities said she did it to cover up a miscarriage.
Houston’s KPRC-TV reports that on Tuesday, a 17-year-old boy came home to their Houston apartment to find his aunt, 33-year-old Carolina Flores, dead from multiple stab wounds. When authorities arrived on the scene, they discovered that the woman’s 6-week-old baby was missing and issued an Amber Alert.
Two days later, on Thursday, police arrested 28-year old Erika J. Miranda-Alvarez on charges of capital murder. Law enforcement officials say that Miranda-Alvarez killed Carolina Flores and kidnapped the infant to hide her miscarriage from her boyfriend and family.
“She was pregnant; she was due in January. She lost the baby; she did not share the fact that she lost her baby with anyone,” Houston Police Chief Art Acevedo said at a news conference.
Carolina Flores moved to the U.S. from Honduras five years ago to make a better life for her children. In addition to her baby, she had two other children, ages 7 and 17.
Authorities say that Miranda-Alvarez was friends with Flores’ brother. As for Miranda-Alvarez’s boyfriend, authorities have so far not charged him with a crime because they say he believed that she had simply given birth to a child, but they say he remains under investigation.
Six-week-old Shamali Flores was unharmed.
Read more at KPRC-TV.