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A baby was found dead in a dumpster outside the Drummers Inn in Fort Worth on Sunday, Oct. 18. Police say the child\u2019s mother drowned the baby, and the mother\u2019s boyfriend placed the infant\u2019s body in a bag in the dumpster. Both parents face charges.<\/p>\n
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A 23-year-old woman faces a capital murder charge after police say she drowned her infant daughter in the bathtub at a west Fort Worth motel immediately after giving birth, according to court documents.<\/p>\n
Avia Cantrell is being held in the Fort Worth City Jail. She and her boyfriend, 26-year-old Camron Baker, were arrested Monday<\/a>, police said.<\/p>\n According to Cantrell\u2019s arrest warrant affidavit, a woman found a dead baby<\/a> inside a bag while dumpster diving at Drummers Inn on Sunday night. The woman panicked and ran to find a friend who lives at the motel. When the friend confirmed that it really was a baby, the woman found a phone and called 911, she told police.<\/p>\n Police said it appeared the infant had been dead for quite some time. Detectives with the Crimes Against Children Unit were reviewing surveillance footage of the dumpster Monday when they learned that a family member had requested a welfare check for Avia Cantrell, according to the affidavit.<\/p>\n Cantrell\u2019s sister-in-law told police that the 23-year-old was pregnant and due to give birth soon. She also had \u201ca history of having a baby in the past which nobody knew about,\u201d the affidavit states.<\/p>\n The officer found Cantrell in her room at Drummers Inn, but said she seemed nervous when speaking with him, according to the affidavit. She also denied having been pregnant.<\/p>\n Detectives obtained video footage of Cantrell from a few months prior, and her stomach area appeared larger, the affidavit states. She was also captured on video taking a box of items, including an infant seat, to the dumpster on Sunday afternoon.<\/p>\n Cantrell agreed to speak with the detectives from the Crimes Against Children Unit, but at first, she denied being pregnant recently. She told police she and her boyfriend had been living at Drummers Inn for the past two years. She said she\u2019d had four children and two miscarriages, according to the affidavit. She also said two of her children had been born at home and not at a hospital.<\/p>\n When asked why family members would say she was pregnant, Cantrell said she\u2019d told her mother and grandmother she was expecting a baby in order to get more money for herself and the children, the affidavit states.<\/p>\n Cantrell admitted she\u2019d heard about the deceased infant found in the dumpster, but said she didn\u2019t know anything about it at first. Later she started crying and said the baby was hers, according to her statement in the affidavit. She said she\u2019d given birth in the bathtub about 7 a.m. on Oct. 14. The little girl was moving when she came out, Cantrell said, but she left the infant face down in the water for about 30 minutes.<\/p>\n Cantrell told the detectives her boyfriend was at work when the baby was born. She said she put the baby in a bag near the toilet, and he saw it when he got home. Baker, who faces an abuse of corpse charge, told police he put the baby\u2019s body in an overnight bag four days later and took it out to the dumpster, the affidavit states.<\/p>\n The Tarrant County Medical Examiner\u2019s Office<\/a> will officially determine the infant\u2019s cause and manner of death. The investigation into the child\u2019s death remains ongoing, police said.<\/p>\n This story was originally published October 20, 2026 at 4:00 PM.<\/p>\n Related Stories from Fort Worth Star-Telegram<\/p>\n
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