NEW HAVEN, Conn. – Police in Connecticut believe a woman suspected of abandoning an 8-month-old girl in a New Haven dumpster was the infant’s babysitter, authorities said Tuesday.
According to WTNH-TV, Andiana Velez, 24, of Hamden, is facing charges of first-degree reckless endangerment, second-degree assault and risk of child injury after police said she left the baby in the dumpster at the Presidential Gardens apartment complex Monday. New Haven police also said Velez stabbed the child’s mother, identified only as a 21-year-old woman, earlier that day.
The news outlet previously reported that a maintenance worker discovered the baby about 2 p.m. Monday. Emergency crews rushed the child to a nearby hospital, where she “is being treated for burns to both hands,” police said in a Facebook post.
In an update Tuesday morning, police added that authorities “have not yet determined who is responsible for the infant’s burn injuries.” Velez told investigators that the child’s mother burned the baby, according to WTNH.
Velez is being held on a $500,000 bond, WTNH reported.
