CCTV captures woman leaving service station after dumping dead baby in bathroom

CCTV footage shows a woman leaving a service station in the early hours. Shortly after, the inconceivable happened. WARNING: Graphic

WARNING: Graphic

A woman who left her dead newborn in a service station toilet has been sentenced to four years in jail.

Diana Guadalupe Zavala Lopez pleaded guilty to tampering with evidence charges after she abandoned the deceased child in the bathroom after giving birth, Law & Crime reports.

The 27-year-old was seen on CCTV footage entering a Shell petrol station in Houston, Texas, to use the facilities in the early hours of April 2, 2023.

The deceased child was discovered by another customer who later entered the bathroom and “found the child inside the toilet”.

The child’s name and cause of death have not been released.

Diana Guadalupe Zavala Lopez pleaded guilty after giving birth and leaving the dead baby in bathroom. Picture: Houston Police

CCTV captured her arriving at the servo and using the facilities, before leaving 15 minutes later. Picture: Houston Police

Zavala Lopez, a Mexican national and “migrant who overstayed her visitor visa”, was arrested by US Customs and Border Protection in August 2023 at a bus station in Brownsville, Texas.

She’s now pleaded guilty to one count of tampering with evidence — human corpse, as well as one count of tampering/fabricating physical evidence with the intent to impede an investigation, court documents reviewed by the publication state.

Police initially shared the surveillance footage to their YouTube page showing a “person of interest” in the case before determining the woman leaving the gas station was Zavala Lopez, according to Law & Crime.

Police said the dead child was found at 4.25am, after Zavala Lopez used the bathroom. Picture: Houston Police

In the clip, a dark-haired woman wearing a T-shirt and bike shorts can be seen entering the store, before leaving 15 minutes later and driving off in a white Cadillac.

At 4.25am, authorities were alerted after someone else used the bathroom and discovered the dead newborn.

“No one else went inside that bathroom, and [the newborn] was not there when she walked in before,” HPD Homicide Detective Calab Bowling said.

“It appears that she gave birth in the restroom.”

Harris County District Judge Kristin M. Guiney sentenced Zavala Lopez to four years in a state correctional facility, noting she had 489 days of time already served.