Expired tags got her pulled over. Cops found a 5-day-old baby dead in her trunk, they say
It was a routine traffic stop — until police looked in her trunk, that is.
Jalesa Gaines, 23, was pulled over Nov. 14 in Jackson, Ala., just days after she had given birth to a child, according to police. Expired tags on the vehicle prompted the stop, AL.com reports.
When the officer asked Gaines for her name and age during the 3 p.m. traffic stop, though, Gaines gave a fake name and a fake birthday, according to the Jackson Police Department. Gaines also told police that she was on her way to Walmart, AL.com reports.
After the officer figured out Gaines had offered up a fake identity, police said they asked to search her 1998 Honda Accord, and Gaines consented to the search, according to the newspaper.
And inside the trunk, authorities uncovered Gaines’ dead newborn son, police told WKRG. His body had been wrapped in a sweater, according to police, and then put in a box. Court documents reviewed by WKRG said the baby was about five days old, born on Nov. 9. The baby had been born alive, police said.
“You’re talking about a little person that never had a chance at life,” Jackson Police Chief Jerry Taylor told WKRG. “It puts everybody in shock, initially.”
Gaines, of McIntosh, Ala., was taken into custody and charged in November with abuse of a corpse and giving a false name to a police officer.
Gaines was indicted this week by a grand jury on manslaughter charges in connection with the death of her child, FOX 10 reports. She will be arrested again as a result of those new charges, police said.
Following Gaines’ initial arrest in November, Taylor told FOX 10 that Gaines hadn’t “said a whole lot about what happened to the baby.” Taylor also told the TV station that Gained has shown remorse for her alleged actions “to a degree, but not to the degree we’d expect.”
Results of the newborn’s autopsy are expected to be released soon, officials told FOX 10.
Gaines also has other children, WKRG reports.
This story was originally published January 25, 2018 at 1:47 PM with the headline "Expired tags got her pulled over. Cops found a 5-day-old baby dead in her trunk, they say."