The Eyrie

FORT WORTH, TX — A Fort Worth woman and her boyfriend are facing charges after police say a newborn baby was found dead in a dumpster near a motel over the weekend. Investigators say the child was discovered by a homeless woman who had been dumpster diving near the Drummers Inn on Camp Bowie Boulevard and then alerted others for help.

Police later identified the mother as 23-year-old Avia Cantrell and said she has been charged with capital murder of a person under 10 years old. Her 26-year-old boyfriend, Camron Baker, faces an abuse of a corpse charge. Both remain in custody as detectives continue to piece together what happened in the days before the infant was found.

Dumpster diver found the infant after checking a bag near the motel

Fort Worth police said officers were called around 8:40 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 18, after a report that an infant had been found and might already be dead. The discovery happened in the 7300 block of Camp Bowie Boulevard, where the Drummers Inn sits next to another business.

According to an arrest affidavit, a homeless woman told investigators she was looking through a dumpster when she found a bag. She opened it at the neighboring business and saw the child inside. She then asked a friend to take another look to be sure, and together they told someone at the motel before borrowing a phone to call 911.

The baby was taken to a hospital, where doctors pronounced the infant dead. Police have not publicly identified the child.

Surveillance video and a family welfare check pointed detectives to Cantrell

Police said investigators returned to the motel Monday to review security footage. At roughly the same time, Cantrell’s sister-in-law requested a welfare check because Cantrell was pregnant and expected to deliver soon. The relative also told police that Cantrell had a history involving a baby that no one knew about.

An officer contacted Cantrell at the motel, where she was living, and said she appeared nervous during the conversation. Police said she denied being pregnant at first. But footage reviewed during the investigation reportedly showed Cantrell with a noticeably larger stomach in June 2026, and separate video captured a woman carrying a box of items, including a car seat, toward the dumpster where the baby was later found.

The motel manager identified Cantrell as the woman in the video and confirmed she lived there. Officers then went to the room where she had been staying with her three children, who are now with a relative.

Police say Cantrell described a birth in the motel bathtub

During questioning, Cantrell told officers she had been living at the motel with Baker and the children for about two years. Police said she also gave a complicated account of her family, claiming she had four children and two miscarriages, including two children who were at home and not in the hospital.

According to the affidavit, she kept denying that she was pregnant until she eventually admitted what happened. Cantrell allegedly told police the baby was born around 7 a.m. on Oct. 14 in the bathtub of her motel room. She said the tub was filled with water and that after the child was born and moving, she left the baby face down in the water for about 30 minutes before moving the infant.

Cantrell also told investigators she believed the baby had died because the child’s feet were white. She said she then covered the infant and placed the body in a bag that matched the one later recovered in the dumpster, police said.

Investigators say the body stayed in the room for days before being thrown out

Police said Cantrell called Baker after the birth and told him what had happened. Cantrell also reportedly told officers that Baker had previously thrown away a miscarriage she believed she had had. Investigators, however, said the infant found in this case was born at full term, not as a miscarriage.

According to the affidavit, the baby’s body stayed near the toilet in the motel room for about four days. Police said Baker later put the body into an overnight bag and placed it in the dumpster along with another black trash bag. Baker allegedly admitted to those actions during questioning.

Police said Baker told investigators he did not call law enforcement because they “didn’t want to catch a case.” He also said Cantrell told him to throw the body away because “she couldn’t do it.”

Charges filed as both remain jailed and the investigation continues

Cantrell is charged with capital murder of a person under 10 years old, a charge that reflects the seriousness of the allegations tied to the death of a very young child. Baker is charged with abuse of a corpse. Neither defendant has had bond information released so far.

Police said the case remains active. The investigation has centered on the motel room, the dumpster where the infant was discovered, and the timeline between the birth on Oct. 14 and the discovery on Oct. 18. Detectives have not said whether additional charges could follow as they continue reviewing evidence, surveillance video, and statements from people connected to the motel.

The children who had been living with Cantrell are now staying with a relative while the case moves forward in Tarrant County.

Timeline of the case from birth to discovery

The key events in the case span several days. Police say the baby was born in the motel bathtub on Oct. 14. The body remained in the room for roughly four days before Baker allegedly disposed of it in a dumpster near the motel on Oct. 18.

That same evening, a dumpster diver found the bag and discovered the infant, prompting the 911 call that started the investigation. By Monday, detectives had reviewed surveillance footage, spoken with Cantrell, and arrested both suspects.

From there, the case moved quickly from a welfare concern to a homicide investigation. Fort Worth police say they are still working to establish the full sequence of events and the circumstances surrounding the newborn’s death.