D.C. Woman Indicted For Allegedly Drowning, Dismembering Infant

BALTIMORE (WJZ) -- A 24-year-old woman was indicted today by a grand jury in the Superior Court of D.C. on charges related to allegedly strangling, drowning and dismembering her newborn son.

According to investigators, Lillian Alvarado delivered an infant in the bathtub of her family's apartment in the 6000 block of 14th Street NW on Thanksgiving Day, 2013.

Court documents say, she had not told her family that she was pregnant and, while the baby boy was born alive, she allegedly strangled him, tried to drown him and cut off his legs.

The District of Columbia's Office of the Chief Medical Examiner determined the infant died from asphyxiation and dismemberment.

Alvarado allegedly tried to conceal the crime.

The baby's death was discovered when bloody water leaked from Alvarado's bathroom through to the apartment below. Police responded, believing they were searching for a leak, and eventually found the infant in the bathtub.

Alvarado was arrested in January 2014 by the Metropolitan Police Department.

The grand jury indicted her on charges of first-degree (premeditated) murder while armed, with aggravating circumstances; first-degree felony murder while armed, also with aggravating circumstances, and first-degree cruelty to children. The aggravating circumstances allege that the crime was especially heinous, atrocious or cruel and that the victim was especially vulnerable.

The charges carry a potential sentence of life in prison with no possibility of release.

Alvarado is to be arraigned Friday.

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