A newborn baby was found Monday, October 9, by the Brazilian police buried in an armadillo burrow in Laranjeiras do Sul, a little town in the southern state of Paraná.
Apparently the child spent as many as 24 hours inside the burrow before being rescued. Police reports inform that the baby was found with only his head out of the hole, the placenta still attached and flies flying around.
The mother of the child, Lucinda Ferreira Guimarães, 40, was arrested in a bar and let go by the police who argued that she couldn’t talk coherently and didn’t stop crying.
At first, Guimarães denied she was the baby’s mother and she never gave a reason for burying her own child alive. She has another four kids. The youngest one is 5.
According to the police, the mother may be charged with abortion or assault with intent to commit murder. The Guardianship Council and the District Attorney of Laranjeiras do Sul haven’t decided yet what to do with the baby.
The baby, a little boy, is now in a hospital recovering from the ordeal. He weighs 6.2 pounds and measures 18.1 inches.
Lieutenant Marcos Paluch told reporters that the baby was born Sunday in the eighth month of gestation. He was left at the armadillo burrow about 300 feet from the mother’s house soon after being born.
Monday, neighbors noticed that Lucinda had blood in her dress and didn’t have her pregnacy belly anymore. That’s when the search for the baby started.
When the police first met the little boy they thought he was already dead. He was apparently sleeping, but as soon as the dirt was taken from his mouth he started to cry.