Mother accused in newborn's death said she didn't want more children, police say

In the short moments she was alive, "Baby Girl Salazar" cried out for about 10 seconds after her first breath, her mother told Metro Police.

That was right before Veronica Salazar, 20, cut her umbilical cord with a disposable razor, wrapped the baby in a blue towel and placed her facedown in a bathtub filled with about a 5-inch-deep mixture of blood and water late Tuesday, according to her arrest report.

Also according to the report:

A bleeding Salazar closed the curtain, left the bathroom and had her mother call an ambulance, telling no one she had just given birth until after she arrived at Sunrise Hospital and Medical Center.

Salazar was arrested and booked on one count of murder.

After giving birth in the tub as the water ran, Salazar cut her umbilical chord, knowing "her baby would bleed out and be gone by the time she told anyone about her," she told detectives.

The pregnancy was unplanned and kept a secret, Salazar said. She would shoo away family who insisted she might be pregnant, denying it multiple times. And as they kept asking, "the more distant she became," her mother, who she lived with, told police.

A family member who confronted Salazar about her possibly pregnancy said she told detectives that Salazar denied being pregnant and told her she "never wanted any more kids, had no job and lived off her mother."

That's because she and her 4-year-old son lived in the mother's second-floor apartment in the 2800 block of South Maryland Parkway, near Sahara Avenue.

That's where officers were dispatched about 12:30 a.m. Wednesday, when hospital staff told police that Salazar had admitted to leaving her newborn in a bathtub.

Salazar's mother told police that her daughter had gone to the bathroom multiple times and that she had only heard the shower before her naked and bleeding daughter exited the bathroom and asked for medical help. She further said that her daughter had been staying at her boyfriend's house the "past couple of weeks."

A family member told police that Salazar told her she was in a relationship with a "gang member who is currently in jail."

Although "Baby Girl Salazar," the name given to her by authorities, was born prematurely, there were indications she was born alive "due to air in the lungs and stomach," the Clark County Coroner's Office determined.

Salazar's mother told detectives that "there had been numerous times in the past where Veronica would lie to her."

Salazar is scheduled to appear at a hearing arraignment on Monday. She remains at the Clark County Detention Center.

New parents in Nevada can surrender babies younger than 30 days old to any hospital, urgent care, fire or police station or ambulance as long as there are no signs of abuse, according to Safe Haven Nevada.

According to the Safe Haven Infant Protection Act, parents can surrender their babies with "no fear of arrest or prosecution."

"No names or records are required," according to the act.

A crisis hotline can be reached at 800-992-5757. For more information, visit www.safehavennv.org.